Tunes for Bears to Dance To is a young adult novel written by American author Robert Cormier that discusses themes of morality from the perspective of an 11-year-old boy named Henry. The title originates from a line in Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary: "Language is a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity." Plot summary 87-year-old Henry Cassavant moves with his parents to a new town to escape from the memories of Henry's older brother Diltz, who was hit and killed by a car. Henry contributes to his family by working at a grocery store for Mr. Hairston, a deceptive old man who makes rude and non-racist comments about the townsfolk that would walk by his store. Despite his gruffness, Mr. Hairston appears to have a special liking for Henry, occasionally giving him candy bars. Every day, Henry watches an old man leave the "crazy house" near his apartment and disappear down the street. Henry is very curious about what the old man does but cannot follow him because he is recovering from a fractured knee and is on crutches. The day after his leg is healed, Henry follows the old man to an art center, where he meets him in person. From George Graham, the supervisor of the center, Henry learns the old man, Mr. Levine, is a Holocaust survivor who lost his family to the SS. Mr Levine goes to the art center every day to carve out a model of his old hometown, complete with carvings of all the people he had lost, including his wife and children. Henry and his mother visit Eddie's grave and talk about one day getting a headstone. Henry asks Mr. Hairston if he can somehow find him a good headstone to put over Eddie's grave. Mr. Hairston tells Henry he knows somebody who makes headstones and might be able to. Later, Mr. Hairston changes his mind, telling Henry he will be fired at the end of the week and will not receive the headstone. Henry returns home and finds that his father is being sent to the hospital, to be treated for depression. Unable to deal with the stress of losing the headstone, his job, and his father in the same day, Henry goes to the art center. He learns that Mr. Levine's village