The Chocolate War (Readers Circle)
by Robert Cormier
(Click here)
Book Summary Information
Author: Robert CormierEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2004-09-14
ISBN: 0375829873
Number of pages: 272
Reading Level: Young Adult
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780375829871
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
- Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
Book Reviews of The Chocolate War (Readers Circle)
Book Review: It's okay to do your own thing so long as it's everyone else's thing too!?
Summary: 1 Stars
I was made to read The Chocolate War back in my early teens. I remember someone telling me that it had loosely been based on actual events. I think that added to the bitter taste it left in my mouth.
The Chocolate war, as I recall it, tells the story of a boy in a very posh school some thirty or forty years ago. I remember the film 'updated it' by having it set in the eighties and where he once ran into a hippie one one scene he now runs into a punk. But I digress.
The protagonist is pressured into selling / buying chocolates for the school. The school's head master (or dean) pretty much recruits the school's thugs to enforce the forced 'volunteer' work. The details of this are blurry to me now all these years later but the ending is still vividly clear in my mind.
Our hero tries very hard to be an individual, to do this own thing and be independent, trying to stand up for his own rights out of principle but then...
Well, at the end of the book the protagonist gets severely beaten and it ends on the note 'It's okay to do your own thing so long as it's everyone else's thing too.' I understand what this book tried to do but all it seemed to do was frighten my fellow classmates of the time into conformity. This is the sort of book that actually discourages free thought and individuality. It's stark, bleak and hopeless. For a fourteen-year-old reading it the only message they get is 'If you try to be yourself around other kids you'll get your ass kicked.' What sort of lesson is that?
I'm all for reading the classics with social commentaries but I don't think this should be required reading for early teens. I think, instead, a more hopeful one taking pride in being an individual should be read instead. The adventures of Robin Hood would be a good example. Children in their early teens are already confused and dealing with peer pressure. And being told 'Be yourself.' can't work if your required reading shows a child being pummeled for just that.
So it's not so much that I think The Chocolate Wars are a bad book but looking back on it now at age twenty-eight I don't think it should be the required reading of teenagers.
By the way, I am a book lover, but you're going to find most of my negative reviews here are going to be toward books I was required to read growing up and how my teacher / fellow students responded to them such as The Old Man and the Sea and Lord of the Flies. Though there were some required readings I did like a lot such as Farenheit 451 and Escape to White Mountains.
Summary of The Chocolate War (Readers Circle)
IN 1974, AFTER SUFFERING rejections from seven major publishers, The Chocolate War made its debut. An uncompromising portrait of conformity and corruption, it quickly became a bestselling-and provocative-classic for young adults."Masterfully structured and rich in theme; the action is well crafted, well timed, suspenseful."-The New York Times Book Review
"The characterizations of all the boys are superb."-School Library Journal, Starred
"Compellingly immediate. . . . Readers will respect the uncompromising ending."-Kirkus Reviews, Starred
An ALA Best Books for Young Adults
A School Library Journal Best Books of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Choice
A New York Times Outstanding Books of the Year
Does Jerry Renault dare to disturb the universe? You wouldn't think that his refusal to sell chocolates during his school's fundraiser would create such a stir, but it does; it's as if the whole school comes apart at the seams. To some, Jerry is a hero, but to others, he becomes a scapegoat--a target for their pent-up hatred. And Jerry? He's just trying to stand up for what he believes, but perhaps there is no way for him to escape becoming a pawn in this game of control; students are pitted against other students, fighting for honor--or are they fighting for their lives? In 1974, author Robert Cormier dared to disturb our universe when this book was first published. And now, with a new introduction by the celebrated author, The Chocolate War stands ready to shock a new group of teen readers.
School Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in 25 Books about Coming of Age
Siddharthaby Hermann Hesse
CreateSpace; Published: 2008-11-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.95
The Chocolate War (Readers Circle)by Robert Cormier
Knopf Books for Young Readers; Published: 2004-09-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.76
Price in other shops:
Middlesex: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club)by Jeffrey Eugenides
Picador; Published: 2002-06-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.19
Price in other shops:
Black Swan Green: A Novelby David Mitchell
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2007-02-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.49
Price in other shops:
This Side of Paradiseby F. Scott Fitzgerald
Charles Scribner's Sons; Published: 1948-01-01; Hardcover; Book
Bridge to Terabithiaby Katherine Paterson
HarperTeen; Published: 2005-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.15
Price in other shops:
His Dark Materials Trilogy (The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass)by Philip Pullman
Laurel Leaf; Published: 2003-09-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.88
Price in other shops:
Mansfield Park (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)by Jane Austen
Barnes & Noble Classics; Published: 2005-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.12
Price in other shops:
Old Schoolby Tobias Wolff
Vintage; Published: 2004-08-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.88
Price in other shops:
The Giverby Lois Lowry
INGRAM BOOK & DISTRIBUTOR; Laurel Leaf; Published: 2002-09-10; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.15
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Pigmanby Paul Zindel
HarperTeen; Published: 2005-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.78
Price in other shops:
Contents Under Pressureby Lara M. Zeises
Laurel Leaf; Published: 2005-11-08; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.77
Price in other shops:
The Chocolate WarGLOVER,JOHN; Release date: 2007-04-17; DVD
Best price: $2.48
Price in other shops:
American Born Chineseby Gene Luen Yang
Square Fish; Published: 2008-12-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.80
Price in other shops:
Feedby M.T. Anderson
Candlewick; Published: 2004-02-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.16
Price in other shops:
Tyrellby Coe Booth
Push; Published: 2007-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.15
Price in other shops:
Weetzie Batby Francesca Lia Block
HarperTeen; Published: 2004-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.53
Price in other shops:
Monsterby Walter Dean Myers
Amistad; Published: 2001-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.08
Beyond the Chocolate Warby Robert Cormier
Laurel Leaf; Published: 1986-08-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.90
Price in other shops:
I Am the Cheese (Readers Circle)by Robert Cormier
Knopf Books for Young Readers; Published: 2007-09-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.60
Price in other shops: