The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

Module 1 - What is YA? Classics & Awards

"Read one of the following YA classics (that you’ve never read before):"

Plot Summary

The Chocolate War takes place at a Catholic boy's school. Within the school exists a secret society of boys, "The Vigils," who formulate "assignments" for potential initiates. This year they have assigned to Jerry Renault the task of refusing to sell chocolates during the annual school fundraiser for the first ten days. An unexpected side-effect of this refusal is that other boys at the school stop selling chocolates. Because this is a huge fundraising effort, the leader of the school asks the leader of the Vigils to pour their support into the sale. They begin to promote the sale farther than before. And when Jerry Renault continues to refuse his role as salesman beyond his assigned ten days, the society and the greater school body begin to mete out punishments.

Critical Analysis

I'd heard about and seen this book for years and always intended to read it, so I finally did. I was unimpressed. The third person omniscient narration left no secrets to discover. When we can see into every character's inner thoughts, we're not surprised by anything; it gives away the story. I didn't mind the quantity of characters, I minded knowing what every single one of them was thinking and what their motivations were. I prefer a little more mystery. It feels as though there's no "main" character, since we're inside the heads of so many of them. The characters and setting are an interesting and somewhat compelling blend, but the lack of mystery negates the novelty of the plot.

As far as the plot goes, it felt a bit contrived with the Vigils and the instructors pulling all the strings. There are very few unexpected surprises that arise; it mostly follows along as the characters intend. Even the uncontrolled gathering at the end isn't unexpected.

"Do I dare disturb the universe?" appears on Jerry's poster and is asked a few times throughout. The consequences of disturbing his "universe" end poorly for him, so the resulting message there is "don't stir things up." If things are allowed to continue as the ones in power intend, then you won't get hurt. The teachers and the vigils use bully tactics to get what they want. Fancy brain-work is only practiced by Archie, the leader of the Vigils, and it never goes wrong and it is always in coming up with intimidating assignments for the other boys.

There are some controversial issues brought up in the narrative. Masturbation appears in the first chapter and makes a few appearances throughout. The treatment of girls within the story is minimal, and they are always a sexual interest. None of them appear with anything to say. Even Jerry lacks a mother, due to illness and death.

Personally, I would not recommend this novel to modern day teens unless they had a prior interest. Maybe a teen who likes to explore classics, or is interested in the era in which this one was written and set would appreciate it. I just didn't find it compelling in the least. It might be useful in a classroom for introducing a discussion of bullying, but I would probably seek out a more accessible title for that purpose.

Connections

• Watch the 1988 film adaptation and compare the two.
  

• Read the sequel and reflect on whether it is what you expect.
  

• Read more books that involve bullying.
  

• Read more stories about secret societies.
  

• Read more books set in boys schools.
  

  Old School by Tobias Wolff
  

• Try another book with boarding schools.
  

  Everything Sucks by Hannah Friedman
  Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
  A Separate Peace by John Knowles
  

• Read T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" - the source of Jerry's poster quote
  

  The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock on wikisource.org

Awards/Reviews

ALA Notable Book

From Kirkus:

In strong, staccato scenes that shift from one boy to another Cormier tells about Jerry's persecution when he decides spontaneously to go on saying no after his ten days are up and Brother Leon induces Archie to see this as defiance of the Vigils. No underworld gang closing in on a victim is more menacing than this teenage army led by a Leon-Archie alliance against one boy whose locker poster reads "Do I Dare Disturb the Universe." Mature young readers will respect the uncompromising ending that dares disturb the upbeat universe of juvenile books.

Bibliography

Cormier, Robert. The chocolate war. New York: Knopf, 1974. ISBN 0375829873.

Related Links

• Read an interview with author Robert Cormier
• Visit Robert Cormier's offcial author site

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Genre 6 - Fiction, Fantasy, and Young Adult Literature

"Read one Printz award or honor book:"

Plot Summary

Colin has just broken up with his nineteenth girlfriend named Katherine. His friend Hassan steps in and insists on a road trip to cheer him up and get him past the depression associated with the heartbreak. Guided serendipitously by Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the boys end up in the small town of Gutshot, Tennessee. Through coincidence and injury the boys meet Lindsey Lee Wells, the daughter of the local factory owner. Her mother, Hollis, puts the boys to work recording the oral histories of the local residents. Through their summer employment, road trip adventures, and the relationships formed in Gutshot, the boys discover more about themselves and find a greater purpose in life than they started with.

Critical Analysis

When this story first picks up, it feels like it's going to be a road trip story of the two boys' adventures. However, once they are waylaid in Gutshot, a much deeper story emerges.

Characters drive the plot of An Abundance of Katherines. The relationships that develop between the characters is what pushes each of them forwards in their plot line. Anyone who has felt the heartache of a breakup can relate to Colin's situation. And since Colin has gone through it 19 times, he is an expert on the situation. The exploration of that recovery from heartbreak is a valuable element of this novel.

By the end of the novel, the realization hits that there's more to making something of oneself than romantic relationships. The boys begin to realize this through their summer employment, and girls simply become a side interest. The reader is brought along to this realization as well.

Personally, what stuck with me from the novel weeks later was the mathematical fervor which Colin expressed in his quest for a theorem to define all of his relationships and his fascination with anagramming.

Connections

• Find out more about...
  
  • oral histories
  • mathematical relationship formulas
  • the name katherine
  • Archduke Franz Ferdinand
  • rural communities
  • textile factories
  • anagrams
  • child prodigies

Awards/Reviews

Nominated for 2007 Michael L. Printz award

From Voices of Youth Advocates:

This sweet and earnest follow-up to Green's Printz Award-winning Looking for Alaska (Dutton, 2005/VOYA April 2005) tackles many of the same themes-love, friendship, memory-with a lighter touch. Colin, Hassan, and Lindsey Lee are well-drawn, memorable characters, and the friendship between the boys is both touching and hilarious. Dialogue and plot flow together beautifully, enlivened by foreign languages, equations, and expository footnotes. It also includes an entertaining appendix explaining the theorem. Despite some weak points, most notably the odd side plot involving Hollis and the textiles company, it is an enjoyable, thoughtful novel that will attract readers interested in romance, math, or just good storytelling. It is highly recommended for public and high school libraries.-Lorraine Squires.

From Publishers Weekly:

It's not much of a plot, but Green's three companionable main characters make the most of it. Colin's epiphany he can't predict the future but he can reinvent himself, maybe even date a girl not named Katherine is pretty basic, but the intelligent humor that will make many readers eager to go along with him and Hassan for the ride.

From School Library Journal:

This novel is not as issue-oriented as Green's Looking for Alaska (Dutton, 2005), though it does challenge readers with its nod to postmodern structure. ... The narrative is self-consciously dorky, peppered with anagrams, trivia, and foreign-language bons mots and interrupted by footnotes that explain, translate, and expound upon the text in the form of asides. It is this type of mannered nerdiness that has the potential to both win over and alienate readers. As usual, Green's primary and secondary characters are given descriptive attention and are fully and humorously realized. While enjoyable, witty, and even charming, a book with an appendix that describes how the mathematical functions in the novel can be created and graphed is not for everybody. The readers who do embrace this book, however, will do so wholeheartedly.-Amy S. Pattee, Simmons College, Boston

From Booklist:

The idea behind the book is that everyone's story counts, and what Colin's contributes to the world, no matter how small it may seem to him, will, indeed, matter. An appendix explaining the complex math is "fantastic," or as the anagrammatically inclined Green might have it, it's enough to make "cats faint." --Cindy Dobrez

From Kirkus:

Colin's wit, anagrams and philosophical quest for order combine with Lebanese Hassan's Muslim heritage and stand-up comedy routines to challenge the macho posturing of local youth, who are friends of Lindsey, the daughter of their hostess. ... Relationships develop, as does Colin, whom Lindsey somehow manages to teach how to tell a story, a skill truly lacking earlier. Sustaining the mood of giddy fun and celebratory discovery, Green omits the dark moments and bleak tragedy of his Printz Award–winning debut, Looking for Alaska (2005). There are tender tearful moments of romance and sadness balanced by an ironic tone and esoteric footnotes along with complex math. Fully fun, challengingly complex and entirely entertaining.

Bibliography

Green, John. An abundance of Katherines. New York: Dutton Books, 2006. ISBN 0525476881.

Related Links

• Author John Green's Website
• Internet Anagram Server

Godless by Pete Hautman

Module 1 - What is YA? Classics & Awards

"Read one of the following recent award winners:"

Plot Summary

Jason Bock, already agnostic and nearly atheist, has a so-called religious experience when he is knocked down under a water tower by a school bully. As a result of his encounter he begins to create a religion based on water-tower gods. By pulling his friends and enemies along for the ride he creates a steady following of acolytes for his new religion. During their first Midnight Mass at the top of their godhead, they engage in a ritual baptism and then disaster strikes. Relationships change and falter throughout as a result of the events of that night.

Critical Analysis

Several days after reading this book, what sticks with me is the turn-around in the antagonist character of Henry and how he has influence upon our protagonist Jason. The complex interplay of character types is what pushes this book forwards. There's the average kid - Jason, the over-zealous nerd - Shin, the love-interest - Magda, and the unpredictable bully - Henry. As the four of them interact, the plot moves forwards. Henry pushes all of them to behave in ways they wouldn't otherwise, but it is within the framework of the new religion which Jason has conceived. In a way, Henry is the primary force within the book and Jason is another unwitting victim of his influence. However, throughout the book the adults warn Jason that his friends listen to what he says and he has great influence. Because of that, the book comes across as just a hint didactic.

The religious aspect of the book comes across as a joke, as the narrator, Jason, intends it that way, so it is a little unbelievable when Shin begins taking it so seriously. Jason's family adds an interesting background for these religious undertakings, as his father is an overly-religious lawyer who tries to get Jason to read more about Catholicism. Jason is able to make a few jabs at the absurdities of religion through his required Teen Power Outreach meetings at the church, and his promotion of Chutengodianism is yet another larger jab.

The first person narrative from Jason's perspective is engaging for the reader. Conversations come across as genuine, and we see just enough of Jason's thought process to make everything he does believable. The religious themes, since they are based on the author's own dalliances, are completely authentic. Pete Hautman says on his website where he discusses his book Godless:

Then I remembered something I hadn't thought about for more than 35 years--a brief teenage interlude when I and a few of my friends devised a mock-religion worshipping the St. Louis Park water tower. It was a summer goof, a way to be irreverant and...well, teens are easily bored, y'know? Anyway, we had this whole epistemology, a pantheon of water tower gods in which the towers belonging to other cities were lesser deities, and so forth. It was something I did for a few weeks one summer and then forgot about.

So it makes complete sense for Jason in the story to make this religion up on a whim. It's the influence his ideas have on others that make the events happen, just as his parents and the adults keep telling him. However, Jason does not take an active enough role in guiding the others, so they mostly end up following Henry, with disastrous results.

Any teen questioning the legitimacy of religious beliefs can find comfort and reassurance in reading Godless. There are many other teens out there who have had these same thoughts, and this is one variation on the theme.

Connections

• Read more novels about faith and religion.
  

  Life of Pi by Yann Martel
  The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
  Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
  A Burnt-Out Case by Graham Greene
  Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
  

• Learn more about recently formed religious groups - from both sides.
  

  Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought by L. Ron Hubbard
  Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion by Janet Reitman
  ----
  The Book of Mormon by Joseph Smith
  The Mormon Mirage: A Former Member Looks at the Mormon Church Today by Latayne C. Scott
  

Awards/Reviews

National Book Award for Young People's Literature 2004

From Publishers Weekly:

Many teens will likely recognize or identify with Hautman's (Sweetblood; Mr. Was) religious critiques; others may be offended (discussing Holy Communion, Jason describes the host as "a sliver of Jesus meat. But they make the host as different from meat as they can, so that even though communion is a form of cannibalism, nobody gets grossed out"). However, while Hautman pushes his satirical story line to the limit, he doesn't bring to it the depth or subtlety of his previous works (for example, Jason's dare to others to disprove that the water tower is God doesn't elicit the obvious response that the tower is man-made). The result is a provocative plot, but not an entirely challenging novel.

From School Library Journal:

These are fun, wacky, interesting characters. While chuckling aloud may be common in the early chapters, serious issues dominate the latter stages of the book. The rivalry between Jason and Henry for the attentions of Magda, Jason's unrepentant certainty that doing what he sees as right is more important than following his parents' rules, and Shin's apparent continued belief in the tenets he helped create are thought-provoking and disturbing. Jason is left to ponder the meaning of a religion that has only himself as a member.-Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Junior High School, Iowa City, IA

From Booklist:

In a smartly structured narrative that is by turns funny, worried, and questioning, Jason watches as his once-cohesive little congregation starts wanting to worship in its own ways, some of them deadly. Not everything works here. Shin's meltdown doesn't seem real, even though it has been thoroughly foreshadowed. But most scenes are honest and true to the bone, such as the one in which Jason and Harry agree that their dangerous stunts are worth their weight in memories. Anyone who has questioned his or her religion, especially as a teenager, will respond to Jason's struggles with belief. Many individuals, upon reading this, will consider their own questions once more. --Ilene Cooper

From Kirkus Reviews:

Jason's explorations of faith, belief, and religion, told in a compelling and imaginative voice, will leave him a solitary, ostracized prophet. Thought-provoking and unique.

From Voice of Youth Advocates:

Readers will find Jason's first-person narrative compelling and provocative. Although Hautman chooses an atypical subject for a young adult book, he succeeds in creating a flawlessly paced and painfully realistic tale of the power and influence of religion.-Jamie S. Hansen.

Bibliography

Hautman, Pete. Godless. New York: Simon Pulse, 2005. ISBN 9781416908166.

Related Links

• Author Pete Hautman's Website
• Chutengodian Bible - A compilation of the Chutengodian scriptures by a student reviewer