But here was this writer with a famous book from my neighborhood! Sooner or later I had to read this. I grew up in the next town over from where Robert Cormier lived. “Do I dare disturb the universe? Yes, I do. The cast of characters runs the spectrum from the bully to the bullied, from nerds to the jocks, Freshmen to Seniors, and most importantly, the one who decided to ask himself. It deals with conforming and not conforming and hazing and trying to fit in and attempting to stand out and sticking it to the man and most of all teaches the lesson. The Chocolate War is a story about life at an all boys high school.

That’s probably why it’s on the Top Banned Books list, right? Can’t have those tiny minds actually used for thinking. As the mother of a child who is currently being forced to read “a book about girls who do nothing but talk about cute guys” (Spoiler Alert: Marie Antoinette Serial Killer), I WISH his required reading was something this good. The Chocolate War is probably one of those books that ends up getting a low rating since it gets crammed down the throats of high school kids in their literature classes. “My name is Jerry Renault and I’m not going to sell the chocolates.” For someone who writes such dark stuff, it was shocking to meet someone who may have actually been Santa Claus! He was the sort of guy who must have been someone's favorite grandpa. On a side note, I met him once before he passed away, and he was not what I expected. The world is evil and there's nothing you can do about it, but he thought that trying to fight against it is the most important thing you can do, even though you're going to fail anyway. I read an interview in which Cormier was asked if he thought the lesson is too dark, and he said that it's just the truth. This is one of those where you talk about the theme more than the actual story: 'It's the best book about good and evil that exists,' you tell someone, after trying to outline a chocolate sale at a religious boy's school that ends in a sadistic boxing fight.

The writing is stark and concise, and so is the story, which is one of the most difficult plots to describe. I never read it as a kid, but I've read it several times now as an adult and it's still so beautiful.

The chocolate war book