Chocolate Fever
Author: Robert Kimmel Smith
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Copyright: 1972
Pages: 93
Reading Level: 4.5
Genre: Children’s Fiction
Rating: ****

Summary:
Henry Green loves chocolate. He eats it for breakfast, lunch, dinner and in-between. Instead of syrup on his pancakes he has chocolate and chocolate on his fries and so on. Well one morning like all other Henry was eating his breakfast of chocolate and getting ready for school, grabbed some kisses on the way out the door and headed to school but on the way there he noticed he felt funny. He felt funny all day, and as he was sitting in class he noticed little brown spots on his arms that weren’t there in the morning. He showed his teacher and she finally took him to Mrs. Kimmelfarber’s, the school nurse, when she saw more brown spots growing before her eyes. Well the spots continued to show up, and then they grew, and then they started making a popping sound! So the school nurse rushed Henry to the ER. Once there Dr. Fargo and many other doctors checked Henry out. They poked the spots and looked at them, and when Dr. Fargo got the lab results back do you know what it was….chocolate! The bumps and boils were full of chocolate. Dr. Fargo called it chocolate fever. Well Henry couldn’t take the poking and looks anymore so he ran, he ran right out of that hospital until he passed a school yard and headed right to the freeway where Mac a nice truck driver picked him up. He told Mac about everything and Mac talked some sense into him. They decided they would head home once Mac made his last stop. But before they could make it back they were hijacked! The men thought that Mac was carrying furs, but all he had were chocolates in his big truck. So the men took them to their hideout, but as they were planning on what to do with the chocolates a pack of dogs came in a swarmed them…all of them after Henry, licking him all over. This then brought the local police, and the thieves were hauled off to jail. Then Mac and Henry went to make their last delivery. Here they met Mr. Cane, the candy shop owner. Once he saw Henry he asked him about his spots and his love for chocolate. Then he told him a story about a boy who had the same thing happen! That boy was Mr. Cane. He told Henry the cure, the opposite of chocolate, so vanilla…and to promise to only eat chocolate ever now and then. It was a pleasure to have chocolate and one should not indulge in it all the time. Henry then went back home, had a good night’s rest and the next morning instead of chocolate on his pancake he had…cinnamon. He wondered if you could ever get cinnamon fever.

Who would benefit from reading this?
This book is just a fun book for all kids. It would also be a great book for kids that are very picky eaters, to encourage them to try new things. Fun for all ages.

Potential problems/conflicts:
Though Mac the truck driver was nice, it is not a good idea for kids to think it is safe for just anyone to pick them up off the side of the road.

My reaction:
I thought this book was hilarious! I had no idea what it was about before I read it but I loved it. All the characters add to the book so well and you can’t help but feel for Henry. A hilarious book, I plan on reading this to my kids no doubt! Read this book…it is a quick and fun read for kids. I would be a fun read aloud book.