Journal #9: The Chocolate War and banning

[Renee Stein]

Since The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier was published in 1974, it has been one of the top ten most challenged books. Parents of junior high and high school students are the most frequent challengers of the book. With the theme of bullying and conformity it doesn't seem to be a book that needs to be banned. But parents seem to have a problem with the content. One parent actually counted and found 174 profanity words in the book. Profanity is a major cause of banning. Even more distrubing to parents is the sexual activity described in the book. The way the boys talk about girls is degrogatory. Masturbation and homosexual thoughts also seem to bother parents. The way the school is portaried seems to upset parents and Catholics alike. Finally the amount of violence throughout the book upsets parents. But the use of violence makes it a popular book to be used when talking about bullying.