It's Robert Cormier's birthday!
Stunned by his mother's recent death and appalled by the way his father
sleepwalks through life, Jerry Renault, a New England high school
student, ponders the poster in his locker- Do I dare disturb the
universe? Part of his universe is Archie Costello, leader of a secret
school societ-the Virgils-and master of intimidation. Archie himself is
intimidated by a cool, ambitious teacher into having the Virgils
spearhead the annual fund-raising event-a chocolate sale. When Jerry
refuses to be bullied into selling chocolates, he becomes a hero, but
his defiance is a threat to Archie, the Virgils, and the school. In the
inevitable showdown, Archie's skill at intimidation turns Jerry from
hero to outcast, to victim, leaving him alone and terribly vulnerable.
