The Chocolate War (Readers Circle)

The Chocolate War (Readers Circle)
by Robert Cormier

The Chocolate War (Readers Circle)
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Book Summary Information

Author: Robert Cormier
Edition: 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
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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.

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