The Chocolate War is without a doubt a book boys greatly will enjoy. The story takes place in a private New England Catholic prep school named Trinity. The main character is a boy named Jerry Renault. As the first day of school ends, Jerry’s life gets worse. Archie and Obie are two high ranking individuals in an organization called the Vigils. They like to pick on freshmen. They convince Jerry, a freshman, to say no when he is asked to be part of an old Trinity tradition of selling chocolates. Brother Leon, a teacher and a stickler for tradition, is angry because Jerry goes against tradition. Brother Leon is in league with Archie and Obie in making Jerry’s life as miserable as possible.
Jerry dreams of playing football. Although football tryouts are brutal, he survives and makes the team. On the second day of school, he meets a kid called Goober. Goober is big, fast, and sensitive. Jerry and Goober both play on the school football team. The two become friends. The relationship between the two boys is an important part of Jerry’s life getting better. Goober makes Jerry feel better when he is feeling down.
A major theme in this book is stand up for yourself. One way this is shown is when Jerry gets in a fight with a bigger guy named Emile Johnson. He calls Jerry a lot of bad stuff, so Jerry goes berserk and gets badly beaten up.

I would recommend this book to anyone that likes to read fast paced books. It is good for boys ages thirteen to twenty. It has action and at times can be humorous. This is a book that is hard to put down so don’t blink because you just might miss something.