ALA Booklist

Diego, 12, lives in prison in the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia, stuck there with his parents, who have been falsely arrested for smuggling drugs. He attends school and works as a taxi, running errands for the inmates in the great street market. Then his friend, Mando, persuades him to make big money, and the boys find themselves stomping coca leaves in cocaine pits in the jungle, with local gangsters and a smooth boss who supplies hungry noses in America. Readers will be caught up by the nonstop action in the prison, and also in the jungle survival adventure, where escape is tempered by the specter of death. The connection between medicinal coca leaves, sacred to the indigenous people, and their exploitation by the global drug runners is not entirely clear, but, as in The Breadwinner (2001) and many of her previous books, Ellis tells a bold story of contemporary kids in crisis and brutally exploited far away. A sequel is on the way.

School Library Journal (Fri Dec 01 00:00:00 CST 2006)

Gr 5-8 Elliss novel attempts to expose the strains that cocaine production and trade and the U.S War on Drugs have placed on Bolivians. Diegos parents have been wrongfully incarcerated for drug smuggling. While they serve their 16-year sentences, the 12-year-old, who would otherwise be homeless, lives in the womens prison with his mother and younger sister. He earns money as a taxi, running errands in the city for the prisoners. One day his friend convinces him that they can make easier money working for men who turn out to be involved in cocaine manufacturing. The boys are enslaved in the jungle, Diegos friend dies, and Diego barely escapes with his life. This harrowing part of the narrative is somewhat rushed and is less convincing than the rest. Nonetheless, because of its unusual setting and subject matter, and Elliss efforts to explicate complex social, political, and economic issues, this book should find a place in larger collections. Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Public Library, NY

Voice of Youth Advocates

For twelve-year-old Diego and his family, home is a prison in Bolivia where his parents, who were wrongly convicted of drug possession, are serving long sentences. Diego lives mostly with his mother and little sister but occasionally visits his father in the nearby men's prison. Like the other older children, he can come and go, and he attends school every day and walks to the market to sell his mother's hand-knitted goods. He also works as a "taxi," running errands for other prisoners, which helps to earn the money needed to pay for the cell and other commodities in the prison. His friend Mando convinces him that it is time to make big money, and soon the boys are deep in the jungle, working as virtual slaves in an illegal cocaine operation. Mando dies trying to escape, but Diego eventually finds a safe haven with a campesino family. Ellis artfully describes the horrible conditions in the overcrowded prison, the street children who sniff glue, and the backbreaking labor-often performed by children-to make the paste that will eventually become crack cocaine. In an author's note, she explains the difficulties experienced by the farmers of Bolivia who have been growing coca for centuries but who now find themselves caught in the vicious cycle of the crack cocaine drug trade and the unintended consequences of "war on drugs." A glossary serves to further explain unfamiliar Spanish and indigenous language. This unusual coming-of-age novel describes a life where, for a boy like Diego, the illegal drug trade seems to be the only game in town. Readers can look forward to a sequel.-Lois Parker-Hennion.