Chocolate Fever, published in 1972, belongs to a subgenre of midcentury children’s literature, the candy-fueled cautionary tale. These stories often use magical or surreal consequences to warn against childhood vices like greed and overindulgence. A prominent example is Patrick Skene Catling’s The Chocolate Touch (1952), in which a boy named John Midas is cursed so that everything he puts in his mouth turns into chocolate. Another is Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964), in which indulgent children meet bizarre fates tailored to their specific flaws. The overindulgent Augustus Gloop is swept away in a chocolate river, and the obsessive gum-chewer Violet Beauregarde turns into a giant blueberry. In these narratives, the fantastical punishments are physical manifestations of the children’s excessive behaviors. Henry’s ailment fits within this tradition. His body literally erupts in chocolate spots because of his insistence on eating chocolate for every meal. His comical yet alarming transformation serves the same moral function as the fates of Augustus Gloop or John Midas in teaching a lesson about moderation. This subgenre responds to its historical context. Before the midcentury, chocolate and other candies had generally been luxury, artisan items, and during World War II, access to such items was furthered limited due to food shortages and rationing, particularly on sugar. After the war, the industrialization of chocolate production, mass marketing, a booming economy, and fewer limits on food access led to increased chocolate consumption in both the United Kingdom and the United States. The story frames overindulgence as a condition that can overwhelm a person, a common theme in an era when anxieties about overconsumption were culturally prevalent.