The Bitter Side of Sweet

Starred review from November 30, 2015
Sullivan (Golden Boy) shines a harsh light on the horrors of modern-day slavery through 15-year old Amadou’s struggles to care for his eight-year old brother, Seydou, while farmers force them to harvest cacao on an Ivory Coast plantation. Amadou’s understated narration accentuates his desperation: “I don’t count how many times I’ve been hit for being under quota. I don’t count how many days it’s been since I’ve given up hope of going home.” Tricked two years earlier into believing they had been offered seasonal work, the boys are locked in a shed at night, beaten for the smallest infraction, and punished with food deprivation. Escape attempts by a newly arrived 13-year-old girl, Khadija, inadvertently lead to Seydou suffering grievous injury. Terrified, but recognizing that Seydou will die if they remain enslaved, Amadou and Khadija make one more attempt at freedom. In a poignant scene later on, Amadou drinks hot chocolate, but gags when he realizes its source. His plea to Khadija’s journalist mother to write their story, or “we won’t have anyone to speak for us,” underscores the disturbing realities underlying this heart-wrenching survival tale. Ages 12–up. Agent: Caryn Wiseman, Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

Starred review from November 15, 2015
Forced to labor on an Ivory Coast cacao plantation, Amadou risks everything for freedom. Fifteen-year-old Amadou left his family farm with his little brother, Seydou, searching for a season of work to help their family survive during a drought. Two long years later, the boys are still at the cacao camp where they have been taken and made to work "all day, week after week, season after season, never getting paid." Amadou, Seydou, and the other boys at the camp must harvest a high quota of cacao pods each day or face severe beatings. When a girl--the camp's first--arrives, her "wildcat" spirit stirs in Amadou a renewed sense of urgency to escape. The girl, Khadija, also causes trouble for Amadou and Seydou with the camp bosses, setting off a chain of horrific, life-changing events that start the children on an uncertain journey toward home. Following Golden Boy (2013), this is Sullivan's second novel about real-life atrocities affecting children in Africa. With it, she delivers an unforgettable story of courage and compassion while illuminating the terrible truth about how the chocolate we consume is made. At the same time, Sullivan allows Amadou, Khadija, and Seydou to be the resilient heroes of their own story, just as their real-life counterparts around the world fight against the odds for change in their communities. A tender, harrowing story of family, friendship, and the pursuit of freedom. (Fiction. 12 & up)

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Starred review from January 1, 2016

Gr 8 Up-The title of Sullivan's second novel is more description than metaphor, as it recounts the misery of child slavery on cacao farms in Africa. Facing hunger because of drought in their native Mali, 13-year-old Amadou and his beloved brother Seydou seek work to help their family. When the novel opens two years later, Amadou muses, "I don't count how many trees we pass because I don't count the things that don't matter. I don't count unripe pods. I don't count how many times I've been hit for being under quota. I don't count how many days it's been since I've given up hope of going home." Hope returns in the person of Khadijah, a hostage who is determined to escape even after a brutal punishment, reluctantly witnessed by Amadou. Their daring departure leads to action and adventure, some requiring suspension of disbelief. But the thrilling language, for example, the description of a terrifying leap into a speeding truck from an overhanging tree, races readers past the need for credibility. The novel's message is clear when the travelers reach relative safety with Khadijah's mother and Amadou tastes hot chocolate for the first time: "You mean that for the past two years we were kept on that farm to grow something that's a treat for city kids who can't sleep?" Back matter includes a glossary, list of sources, and an author's note with information about the international chocolate business. Readers are urged to choose fair trade chocolate as a step toward alleviating poverty among small cacao growers. VERDICT An engaging story that will engender empathy in readers. -Toby Rajput, National Louis University, Skokie, IL

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from December 1, 2015
Grades 8-11 *Starred Review* Sullivan follows up the acclaimed Golden Boy (2013) with a sophomore effort that promises to be equally eye-opening for American readers. Fifteen-year-old Amadou and his younger brother, Seydou, have been away from Mali, their home, for two years, as they work at an Ivory Coast cacao plantation. Each day is an exhaustive effort as Amadou watches out for Seydou, the youngest worker there, and struggles to meet the day's quota for the both of them. Just after a new worker arrivesa teenage girl, Khadija, who is bent on fleeingthe worst thing happens: Seydou loses his arm in a work accident. Suddenly Amadou thinks Khadija is onto something. But could they really escape? In crisp, accessible prose, Sullivan draws readers into a most compelling story of survival under unspeakable hardship, bravery, and teamwork. Amadou's boundless love for his brother and his capacity for kinship with Khadija, whom he later discovers to be the kidnapped daughter of a journalist, is inspiring. There are so few stories for teenagers that provide a glimpse into the complex global systems, such as cocoa production, that they unwittingly participate in every day and likely take for granted. An author's note, glossary, and source material provide further context to engage readers and teachers. Absorbing and important.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2016
For the past two years, fifteen-year-old Amadou and his little brother Seydou have been held as debt slaves on an Ivory Coast cacao plantation. Amadou protects Seydou as best he can by keeping him from dangerous tasks and taking his beatings when he doesn't make quota. But when a feisty girl prisoner, Khadija, arrives, she takes advantage of Seydou's naivete to try to escape, and their captors' retribution falls on Amadou. Beaten and confined to camp, Amadou isn't there to protect Seydou from a life-threatening injury, and in his distress Khadija's advice hits even closer to home: If you really wanted to do what's best for him, you'd get him out of here. By focusing on Amadou's complex feelings of anger and pity toward Khadija (after her second escape attempt, her jailers use rape as a way to break her), Sullivan builds a believable and empathetic narrative that will resonate with readers. As the plot deepens, details about Khadija's life fill in background on the economic conditions that give rise to cacao debt slavery, and the brothers find a way to tell their story to a wider audience. This affecting, sometimes harsh tale demonstrates Sullivan's (Golden Boy, rev. 9/13) continuing commitment as a voice for human rights in Africa. anita l. burkam

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)