''Cipher in the Snow'' is a short story written by Jean Mizer Todhunter about the death of an ostracized teenager. It was later made into a

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

in 1973.

Background

''Cipher in the Snow'', written by Jean Mizer Todhunter, an

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

teacher, counselor and guidance director, was first published Volume 50 of the '' NEA Journal'' in 1964. It won first prize in the first '' Reader's Digest''/''NEA Journal'' writing competition and received a reprint in '' Today's Education'' in 1975.

BYU Motion Picture Studios LDS Motion Picture Studios (MPS) is a film studio based in Provo, Utah, and is a directly-managed division of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The MPS is part of the LDS Church's media production division, which inclu ...

made a

based upon the story in 1973. The film was produced by Wetzel Whitaker and Keith Atkinson, with a screenplay by Carol Lynn Pearson. A DVD of the film is available throug
BYU's Creative Works Office.
Both the film and the story have since been used in moral education as part of anti-bullying initiatives.Bullying Videos/DVDs
Idaho RADAR Network Center

Synopsis

The story is about an ostracized teenager, Cliff Evans, who following his parents'

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

has no friends and becomes a completely withdrawn "

cipher In cryptography, a cipher (or cypher) is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption—a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is ''encipherment''. To encipher or encode i ...

". Then on a school bus, he asks to be let off, and collapses and dies in the snow near the roadside. His school's math teacher is asked to notify his parents and write the obituary. Though listed as Cliff's favorite teacher, he recalls that he hardly knew him. After getting a delegation to go to the funeral - it's impossible to find ten people who knew him well enough to go - the teacher resolves never to let this happen to another child in his charge. It is implied that his death was because no one loved him.

References

External links

"Cipher in the Snow"
at Mormon Literature & Creative Arts Database *
''Cipher in the Snow'' (1973)
at ldsfilm.com 1973 films 1973 drama films Christian fiction 1970s English-language films {{LDS-stub