Chocolate Fever

Chocolate Fever is a juvenile fiction story that was authored by Robert Kimmel Smith. The story was published in 1972.

Plot Summary

Young Henry Green loves chocolate so much, he eats it everyday and puts it on everything: chocolate mashed potatoes, chocolate-sprinkled noodles, chocolate marshmallows. One day at school, Henry notices that he is breaking out in little brown spots. His teacher rushes him to the school nurse, who determines that Henry has a strange rash. The teacher and the nurse both notice a mysterious odor of chocolate in the air. The small brown spots begin turning into larger brown spots, with an audible popping noise. Alarmed, the nurse sends Henry to the hospital.

At the hospital, Henry is examined by Dr. Fargo, who sends a culture from the spots to the lab. The lab returns with the news that Henry's spots are made of "100% pure chocolate." Fargo announces that Henry is the first person in history to be diagnosed with "chocolate fever." The doctor makes plans to broadcast his discovery to the world, but Henry, frightened, runs away. While pursued by the police, Henry runs into a group of boys from another school who bully him over his appearance. Henry bluffs them by telling them that his chocolate fever is a contagious and deadly disease, and they allow him to escape.

That night, Henry, exhausted, crawls into the sleeper cab of a semi-trailer truck. He wakes when the driver, Mac, drives away with him. Mac convinces Henry that his parents are probably worried about him and offers to drive him back home, but the two are unexpectedly hijacked by two criminals named Lefty and Louie, who believe Mac is hauling a load of valuable furs. They are confused to find that Mac's truck really contains a load of chocolate bars. Now left with two unexpected hostages, the crooks take Mac and Henry back to their hideout and tie them up while they plan what to do next. But a group of dogs, on the trail of Henry's chocolate aroma, burst into the hideout, distracting Lefty and Louie while Mac frees himself and takes their gun. The police arrive and arrest the criminals.

Mac and Henry drive on to the candy company to drop off the cargo of chocolate bars and call Henry's parents. Plant owner Alfred "Sugar" Cane recognizes Henry's illness and explains that the only way to cure chocolate fever is by eating the opposite of chocolate: vanilla. He gives Henry vanilla pills and explains that when he was a boy, he, too, suffered from chocolate fever. While Mr. Cane still loves chocolate, he learned to enjoy it in moderation.

Back home, Henry eventually recovers from his chocolate fever and the brown spots vanish. When his mother offers him chocolate syrup on his french toast, Henry remembers moderation and decides to go without the syrup, using cinnamon instead. He is so delighted by the taste of cinnamon that he finds himself thinking of all the other foods that might be improved with cinnamon...only to wonder if there might be such a thing as "cinnamon fever."

Animated adaptation

On May 18, 1985, an animated adaptation of Chocolate Fever was shown on the CBS Storybreak TV program. This adaptation was also released on video by Playhouse Video.

External links

• Chocolate Fever at Powell's Books
• Chocolate Fever at Random House, Inc.
• "CBS Storybreak" Chocolate Fever (TV episode 1985) at the Internet Movie Database