The Chocolate War

Cormier, R. (1974). The chocolate war: A novel. New York: Delacorte.

Jerry Renault is a freshman at the Trinity High School, a private school for middle class boys who wants to be the school’s quarterback.  At Trinity, there is a group of boys who call themselves the Vigils.  The Vigils are a secret society that pick students or “victims” to complete a difficult assignment.  The Vigils have the support from Brother Leon, the assistant headmaster.  The annual fundraiser to sell chocolates is coming up and Brother Leon has ordered extra ones.  He tells the Vigils that it will be their job to make sure that all the candy is sold. Jerry wants to make the football team but he knows that he has to prove himself to the other students. Then Jerry receives an assignment from the Vigils.  They want for him to refuse selling the chocolates for ten days than once it is up, then start selling. On the first day of the chocolate sale when roll call is being done, Jerry flat out refuses the chocolates to Brother Leon.  After ten days, Jerry decides not to sell the chocolates altogether.  The Vigils see this as a direct act of defiance but for many students see it as Jerry is earning their respect.  The chocolate sells are down and Brother Leon is blaming Jerry for it. So what happens next is that Jerry starts getting beat up, bullied, and receiving prank phone calls by the football team.  He still continues to refuse to sell the chocolates.  So, the Vigils arrange for a fight match between Jerry and the school bully.  During the fight, Jerry is nearly beaten to death for standing up for what he believed in.  Jerry knows that nothing will change, everything will stay the same.    

This dark realistic fiction novel deals with school violence and bullying. It is geared towards high school boys since they could be dealing with the bullying or they are the bully.  It lets them see that it is okay to stand up for yourself even if you are the only one.  

Here are some more books that deal with school violence and bullying that I would recommend Permanent Record by Leslie Stella, The List by Siobhan Vivian, The Buffalo Tree by Adam Rapp and Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson.