With a title like The Chocolate War you would think it is nothing more than a feisty Willy Wonka fan-fiction, but this book has more caused controversy than you would believe. Published in 1974 by Robert Cormier, the book has received praise from many critics and has won several awards. What was supposed be seen as an innocent tale about a young boy being a leader of a cult has been challenged by several schools and has been officially added to the American Library Association's list of banned books.
To my surprise, The Chocolate War was the most challenged book in 2004. The reasons for banning it included offensive language, too much violence, sexually explicit content, religious viewpoint, and being unsuited to an age group. (Chicago, http://www.ala.org). Many religious parents were upset because they believed it gave Catholic schools a bad reputation (which I say too late for that, the damage was already done) and a school district in Maryland got it pulled from the curriculum. 40 parents got it pulled from Harford county schools because they
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While at the school (called Trinity) the vice principal encourages the students to help with their annual fundraising event of selling chocolate. Meanwhile, a secret group in the school called The Vigils plans to tear the student body apart from the inside with the help of the chocolate sales. The leader of The Vigils, Archie, first tries to get Jerry to not sell any chocolate for ten days. Jerry follows through and does not sell any chocolate, even after the ten days has passed. Jerry finds himself just not motivated enough to participate to sell any of the chocolate. Many of the students seem him as a hero for going against what the school has to offer, but of course The Vigils and vice principal are upset no conflict has arisen between the students and Jerry has not sold any