I met Robert Cormier in 1995 and he told me that the book "The Chocolate War" was
inspired by his son's school-wide project of selling chocolates every year to raise
money. While his son didn't disagree with the practice and wanted to participate
(and Robert and his wife had no problems with the program), the "seed of the idea"
came when Robert thought, "what would be the ramifications to the student who did
NOT want to participate in the school-wide activity?" From that he started telling
about how he developed the characters based upon their need to create a
power-situation over the students and how one student's defiance against the
"system" and those who were corrupt ended up causing his own destruction.
Although rather pessimistic (as all his novels), the thoughts and actions of the
characters became clear to me as the reader once I realized where he had gotten the
idea; his comparison of simple situations that we are all involved in each day, to
more complex situations that spiral out of control when power becomes the ultimate
game played by those who are in control of weaker individuals, still rings true.
Thus the reason why "The Chocolate War" has become a contemporary classic.
Shonda Brisco, MLIS
Trinity Valley MS / US Librarian
Trinity Valley School
Fort Worth, TX 76132
817-321-0100 ext. 410
briscos@trinityvalleyschool.org
"Those who have the highest expectations for the web in terms of student research,
are those who work
with it, and students, the least." -- LM_NET librarian
________________________________
From: School Library Media & Network Communications on behalf of Kathy Mee
Sent: Fri 4/1/2005 7:48 AM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: [LM_NET] TARGET: Specifics against banning Chocolate War
Hi,
As this is my 1st year running a high school library, and my 1st experience
defending a challenged book, I thought I would ask for a little help! A parent is
challenging the book "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier which is part of our 9th
grade curriculum. The English department would like to go in armed to the teeth
with specific arguments that have been used in the past to win this little battle.
We know many of the broad arguments, Freedom of Speech, etc, but would like some
specific arguments that relate to this particular book. Do any of you know of
websites that get into detailed points? I've searched the archives, and haven't
found anything, and also done some internet searching. I will continue my quest,
but thought that some of you might have already experienced this, since the book
has been controversial for so many years!
Many thanks,
Kathy Mee
Milan High School Media Center
Milan, MI
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