Born in Brooklyn, New York, Robert Kimmel Smith was 8 years old when he read his first book—a book that moved him enough to make him cry. It turned out to be a life-defining event, because after that experience he decided not only that he loved reading, but also, luckily for us and for his millions of fans, that he wanted to become a writer. Little did he know that he would grow up to become an award-winning author whose books have sold millions of copies and are making a difference to millions of children.It would take 30 years for his dream to become a reality. He embarked on his writing career in 1970 after leaving the advertising business. But as Smith himself described it, his foray into writing books began entirely by accident, and he credits his daughter with getting him started. It seems that one night he was making up a bedtime story for his daughter, Heidi. As he was spinning his yarn, it began to grow and grow and take on a life of its own. Heidi urged him to finish the story, which ultimately became his first book, Chocolate Fever. Heidi must have known that there was something delicious about that story, because Chocolate Fever went on to sell almost two million copies.But, ideas for books don't always come that easily. Ideas come to Smith from life experiences, from things that happened to him personally or from things that happened to people he knew. Jelly Belly was drawn from his own childhood, when he was the fattest child in the fifth grade. The War with Grandpa garnered 11 state awards (five within one six-week period!). Mostly Michael was written for some fifth graders who asked Smith towrite about an "average" kid who doesn't like school. According to Smith, he wrote The Squeaky Wheel because he wanted kids to know that there was life after parents divorce, and that kids have to speak up for their rights. Though told with humor, it is a powerful book that won the Parents' Choice award for Story Books.Some authors are highly structured, outlining every step of a book's process. But Smith starts with a hero, an opening situation, and a loose idea of where the story will go. "I don't want to know everything; that would be too boring for me. So in a sense, I am discovering the story along with my characters," says Smith.The message he wants to convey to children with his books is simple but fundamental: "Get the most out of yourself, enjoy life, and be good to people along the way." He says that he also writes about making moral choices, without lecturing his readers. Smith says, "I think I wrote Chocolate Fever just to say `you can't have everything every time you want,' which is a basic truth except for the IRS." But, there is a far more basic reason that Smith writes books: "My secret agenda is to create books so entertaining that the kids get hooked on reading, particularly boys, who need help."Robert Kimmel Smith lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife Claire in a big old Victorian house. They have two grown children: Heidi and Roger. Robert and Claire love to cook, and both are fanatical baseball fans. They go to the movies and the theater. Smith plays tennis, swims, gardens, and tries not to gain weight.
I read "Chocolate Fever" by Robert Kimmel Smith. When the book starts Henry cannot stop eating chocolate. He puts it on everything from fried chicken to noodles. One day however, he starts to feel funny. He doesn't realize how bad it is though until he starts getting brown spots all over his body. He gets taken to the doctor and they analyze the spots. It turns out they are chocolate! Everybody starts getting crazy and wants to experiment on him so he runs away. He then met a very nice truck driver named Mac. He told Henry he should call his parents, but before he could their truck was hijacked. The hijackers took them back to their wearhouse. It turned out that the hijackers thought the truck was carrying furs, but it was just full of candy bars. They end up getting saved and Macs boss shows Henry how to cure his chocolate fever.The main character is Henry Green and he is dynamic. In the beginning he cannot stop eating chocolate, but in the end he gives it up almost entirely. Mac is a secondary character who stays the same and helps Henry throughout the book.The story took place mostly in the city, but also was briefly in the forrest. The book was not set in a specific time period, but I thought it related to closely to present day.Overall, I thought "Chocolate Fever" was a good book. It had a simple vocabulary that made it easy to read as well as a good plot. The book flowed well and was never boring. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes an easy read with a good entertainment value. I would give "Chocolate Fever" four and a half out of five stars.
Do You like book Chocolate Fever (2006)?
tI thought "Chocolate Fever" was a really good book. I think it was cute the way Robert Kimmel Smith got his point across. A boy named Henry Green loves chocolate, he eats it for every meal of the day. Henry is sitting in school when he gets a rash. Nobody has ever seen a rash like this before. In "Chocolate Fever" Henry Green is the main character of the book. He loves chocolate and eats it with everything. Mac is a semi driver who picks Henry up when he is running away from home. There is also lefty and lousie, two men that try to steal the semi from mac. Henry Green has a mom, dad, little brother and an older sister who play minor parts in the book. The setting of this book is modern 2000 times. I could tell this by the way the narrator worded things, and how the classroom was set up and ran. It takes place in a small town, in a school, and Henry’s home. When Henry runs away he skips across the border with Mac, they travel all around the United States. A theme in this book is “be who you are.” Kids made fun of Henry, because he ate chocolate too much. He felt sad when they did it, but he didn’t care. Also when Henry got a rash from the chocolate kids made fun of him. He just thought of a comment to ask them why they didn’t have chocolate fever. I would recommend this book to elementary or middle school kids. It was a cute and easy read for me. It also teaches kids that you need to eat healthy, not just junk food all the time.
—Sadie Kaminske
FINALLY found a chapter book that all of my kids enjoyed!!! With the oldest at 9 and the youngest at 3, it's been hard to find a book to read aloud to them that would entertain them all. I tried Fablehaven and Beezus and Ramona and a few others, but we never got past the first few chapter of any of them. Then I remembered hearing about a book called Chocolate Fever and figured that since all of my kids are such candy freaks, they would be sure to like this one. And I was right! They were all begging me to read it every night and were excited about it and talking about it together and really enjoyed reading it. I gave it 3 stars but they would all probably give it 5. Now to find another that they'll all like...ack!
—Kathleen Kirby Vallejo
A silly, weird book that speaks more to kids than the adults reading it to them. The middle of the book is odd even by its own standards.Henry Green loves chocolate. By loves, I mean "eats so much that it makes candy-loving adults sick to their stomach to read about it." It doesn't harm him, until one day little brown spots smelling of candy sprout all over him during class. He has chocolate fever, and out of worry runs away from the doctor who treats him. Can he ever be cured?It's appropriate for young readers, and very well written. Despite being written in 1973, it doesn't feel dated at all apart from something only an adult would catch. It concerns Mac, the friendly truck driver. Back in the 1970s, hitchhiking wasn't seen as dangerous or as unsafe as it is today, and children running away to be helped by a friendly adult on the road seemed more natural then than now. The middle is a little unusual too. Henry takes a break to help Mac stop his truck from being hijacked by two very polite criminals. I think kids would find it very funny, but adults might scratch their heads. The book is moralistic and a little preachy, but this is for very young children, not older readers: think Junie B. Jones Smells Something Fishy rather than older books. This is a sugar-coated way of teaching young kids they can't always have what they want, and it works well. For a brief chapter book, it's well done. Goofy and silly without entirely crossing the line to full gross-out underpants humor. Good for young boys.
—D.M. Dutcher
