The chocolate war is a young adult novel by american author robert cormier published in 1974 it was adapted into a film in 1988 although it received mixed reviews at the time of its publication some reviewers have argued it is one of the best young adult novels of all time 1. The chocolate war is a popular young adult book by robert cormier and it is about how a young teenage boy named jerry renault refuses to sell chocolates at his school trinity and how he faces some hardships from brother leon and the vigils because of his defiance. The chocolate war by robert cormier the chocolate war by robert cormier was not written with a young adult audience in mind but class sets of the book found their way into english departments all over the world though this is not my favourite cormier novel it remains his best known heavy in symbolism and discussable themes the chocolate war . The chocolate war by robert cormier 3 with trying out for the team screw everything he was going to sleep he didnt care anymore renault ridiculous someone calling his name renault the coachs voice scraped like sandpaper against his ears he opened his eyes