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Summary from the Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

A high school freshman discovers the devastating consequences of refusing to join in the school’s annual fundraising drive and arousing the wrath of the school bullies.

Excerpts & Notes for this book are from the PABBIS* website, as the organization made note of the controversy surrounding this book in other schools:

Book cover/size/number of pages looks aimed at young (6/7/8th grade) reader..

Language: For Christ’s sake, bastard (24), Jesus (numerous), Christ (numerous), goddamn (10), hell (numerous), son of a bitch (4), shit/bullshit (5), etc...

"The exhilaration.. vanished and he sought it in vain, like seeking ecstasy's memory an instant after jacking off and encountering only shame and guilt."

Looking at girls in Playboy, wondering if “he would die before holding a girl’s breast in his hand.”

Brother verbally teases and abuses one of his students in front of the class, getting the whole class to laugh at the boy.

“..how he sometimes felt .. horny..when he roughhoused a kid or tackled a guy viciously…”

“At night in bed, he could have one without even touching himself, just thinking of her.”

“..her breast brushing his arm, setting him on fire…first time (he) thought it was accident….then she brushed again…. He knew it wasn’t ..felt himself hardening ….. those beautiful breasts….tomorrow she’d probably let him get under her sweater.”

“ (old people) were to old for sex… he couldn’t believe his mother and father ever actually..”

Boy with camera without film catches another boy masturbating in toilet: “..pants dropping on floor, one hand furiously at work between his legs.” Pretends to take photo. Taunts him: “If you’re going to jack off in a toilet, at least lock your door.” Continues to blackmail/control other boy throughout book using supposed photo.

Cigarettes, bully makes freshman buy or steal cigarettes for him.

“..calling to mind the figure of a girl…sweater had bulged beautifully…books pressed against her rounded breasts. If my hands were only those books, he thought….hand now curled between his legs, he concentrated on the girl. But for once, it was no good...”

“..Fantastic looking. Tight sweater, clinging low slung jeans. Jesus. ..Watching girls and devouring them with your eyes-rape by eyeball-was something you did automatically…… he feasted himself on her rounded jeans..”

“It was good to have people hate you-it kept you sharp. And then when you put the needle in them….. you felt justified.. didn’t have to worry about your conscience.”

“..hang out around ..the girls high school…let your eyes devour some luscious sights…talk one of them into the car, for a ride home. With detours.”

“How many times you jack off every day? Twice (he) replied quickly. See….no secrets here..”

Boy harassed by constant late night phone calls, locker trashed.

Teased by one boy: “..what I mean by closet, ..touching (his) cheek.. lingering in a faint caress…you’re a fairy. A queer.. homos..you must be creaming all over, wow, 400 ripe young bodies to rub against…Kiss me…You son of a bitch…” Then he was brutally beaten by a dozen boys: "..swarming all over him, hitting him high and low.. a dozen fists pummeled his body, fingernails tore at his cheek and a finger clawed his eye.. wanted to blind him.. wanted to kill him.. Pain.. in his groin.. kicked him there.. blows rained.. without mercy.. no let up.. somebody was pounding his head furiously... another kick in his groin.. vomit now.. open his mouth to let it spray forth.. threw up.. kick him again, ths time in his lower back, the final sheet of pain that drew a black curtain over his eyes."

"..people are 2 things: greedy and cruel... we're all bastards."

“The raffle tickets were selling like dirty pictures.”

Brutal graphic fight in front of all school by two boys masterminded, arranged and setup by another boy. All the kids get to pay to describe what kind of blow they want one boy to hit the other with. Fight gets out of hand and they start to chant "kill him, kill him,.. sank to the stage, bloody, opened mouth, sucking for air, eyes unfocused, flesh swollen... collapsed like a hunk of meat cut loose from a butcher's hook." The fight is witnessed secretly by one of the religious teachers (Brother L.) who does nothing to intervene as one boy is almost beat to death. Another teacher who was also aware also did nothing to prevent fight or intervene when it got out of hand

At the end of the book the cruel sadistic boys come out on top along with the cruel, corrupt brother's who run the school. The boy who resisted selling the chocolate was the one beaten twice in the book. At the end his lesson learned was "..do whatever they wanted you to do..They don't want you to do your thing, not unless it happens to be their thing..Don't disturb the universe.. they murder you."

Robert Cormier, author of numerous books for young children, is one of the most challenged authors, this title is just one of his books that have been frequently challenged. Adult content (age inappropriateness) and foul language are two common reasons. Many of his titles have been deemed inappropriate for younger students.

For a more information on The Chocolate War Click Here

Deemed inappropriate in Fairfax County Public School Elementary and Middle School Library System

This book is the 3rd most challenged book of the 1990's

This book was removed from the curriculum in three school Texas districts in 1997

It has also been challenged on delving into "adolescent psychology", "sexually explicit language", and "violence."

The most challenged fiction book of 1998

In 1996 it was removed from middle school libraries in the Riverside, California, after a district committee decided the book was inappropriate for seventh and eighth graders to read without class discussion.

Also challenged for descriptions of bullying, dehumanizing institutions, language and sexual references.

* PABBIS provides content on their website that may contain “controversial and potentially objectionable or inappropriate material in a book.” Click for more from Parents Against Bad Books In Schools/PABBIS