The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull | Teen Ink

The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull

November 8, 2016
By PetergetsPublished BRONZE, Cottonwood Heights, Utah
PetergetsPublished BRONZE, Cottonwood Heights, Utah
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Readers will not be able to put the book down because of nonstop action with a twisting plot full of surprises. “The Candy Shop War” by Brandon Mull is a story about four kids trying to take down a magician that if not stopped, will rule the world. Walnut Hills is just likey any ordinary small town except for one thing. Ms. White, a very old woman, recently moved to Walnut Hills to supposedly start a new life and make more money by selling delicious candy. The four protagonists; Nate, Pigeon, Summer, and Trevor fall in love with Ms. Whites candy. One day Ms. White offers the four fifth graders magic candy if they will complete special tasks. They obviously agreed and did what Ms. White told them to do. They had a blast eating the magic candy that made them become weightless, get rid of bullies, and even transform into different identities. Eventually the fifth graders question why they are doing all these things for Ms. White, and they discover that they are looking for a treasure that will give Ms. White infinite youth. Read “The Candy Shop War” to find out what happens in the end because that was only the beginning.
“The Candy Shop War” is full of conflicts that keep arising the closer the story is to coming to an end. The first three major conflicts come from robbing from a library, a museum, and then a grave. All three robberies are to help piece together the map to the hidden treasure. The tasks at hand are completed by using the magical candy made by Ms. White that without, the fifth graders wouldn’t have gotten very far. When Ms. White asked them to rob the grave, they started to question whether or not they were on the right side. Pigeon exclaims, “Robbing graves! She’s asking us to rob graves!” (139). Furthermore, the biggest conflict without getting too far into the book, is when Mrs. White tells the fifth graders to kill Mr. Stot. Mr. Stot was the original best selling candy place in Walnut Hills before Ms. White came along. This is where the fifth graders drew the line. They have to solve the conflict of avoiding Ms. White's rath while getting help from Mr. Stot on how to stop Ms White. Conflict and the overcoming of conflict make for a very good story, which is good because this book has a lot of them.
“The Candy Shop War” plot is very well organized which makes for a very intriguing book. First of all, the exposition talks about how Nate, Summer, Pigeon, and Trevor met, how Ms. White moved into the town, and the setting of the book. The four fifth graders met by living close to each other and going to the same school. The setting is Walnut Hills in California. The complication/inciting incident is when Ms. gives the fifth graders magical candy. This is the beginning of the conflict because if they wouldn’t have taken the candy, they wouldn’t have gotten stuck in the candy shop war. Lastly, the climax is when the fifth graders realize the Ms. White is evil. This is the extremity in the story because as soon as the fifth graders recognize that Ms. White is trying to take over the world, they stop helping  her. Those are the main plot points from “The Candy Shop War”.
I would definitely recommend “The Candy Shop War”  because of its bewildering but fun to read events in the story, non stop action, and even a little bit of humour. To begin with, it's very confusing to know actually who to trust for the fifth graders as there is two magicians trying to find the treasure that both have magical candy. In addition, it is a great book because of its never ending excitement. For example, the fifth graders have to rob a grave, rob a museum, and rob a library just to find  the map to  the treasure. Finally, the book has humour to make the book even harder to resist. For instance, Ms. White says, “Does your mom call you Nate, or does she call you honey lips” (Mull 39). Nate and Ms. White had just barely met and she already knew Nate’s darkest secret. In conclusion, I would recommend this book to anyone that likes fun plot twists throughout the book, humour in the story, and it’s perpetuating action.


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