I Am a Taxi

December 1, 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"

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2006
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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2007
In Cochabamba, Bolivia, twelve-year-old Diego's parents are in prison on false drug convictions. Diego gets sucked into working for a drug dealer, which turns into brutal servitude deep in the Bolivian jungle. The book's strength lies in the glimpse of an individual struggling to exist in a society with limited options for escape. An author's note provides background. Glos.

(Copyright 2007 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2007
In Cochabamba, Bolivia, twelve-year-old Diego's parents are in prison on false drug convictions. As long as Diego and his little sister behave, they can live in their mother's cell and even visit their father, housed in the men's facility next door. Diego attends school on the outside and earns the money necessary to pay rent on their cells and provide their meals. He does so by selling items his mother knits and by working as a "taxi," an errand boy for those unable to leave the prison. Diego's need for money consumes his life, so that even though he's level-headed and street smart, his best friend is able to persuade him that they can make big bucks with just a few days of easy work for a local drug dealer: "Playtime's over, Diego. We're men now." Those few days of work turn into brutal servitude deep in the Bolivian jungle. Diego's survival there creates suspense late in the story, but the strength of the book lies in the glimpse of a single individual struggling to exist in a society with limited options for escape. An author's note provides background for the novel, and a glossary defines potentially unfamiliar language.

(Copyright 2007 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)