Author(s): Deborah Ellis
Format: Paperback
No. of Pages: 208
Publisher: GROUNDWOOD BOOKS
Language: English
Date Published: 2008-02-28
Dimensions: 127 x 187.96 x 17.78mm
Publication City/Country: Toronto, Canada, Canada
Edition: Reprint
Illustrations:

For twelve-year-old Diego and his family, home is the San Sebastian Women s Prison in Cochabamba, Bolivia. His parents farmed coca, a traditional Bolivian medicinal plant, until they got caught in the middle of the government s war on drugs. Diego s adjusted to his new life. His parents are locked up, but he can come and go: to school, to the market to sell his mother s hand-knitted goods, and to work as a taxi," running errands for other prisoners. But then his little sister runs away, earning his mother a heavy fine. The debt and dawning realization of his hopeless situation make him vulnerable to his friend Mando s plan to make big money, fast. Soon, Diego is deep in the jungle, working as a virtual slave in an illegal cocaine operation. As his situation becomes more and more dangerous, he knows he must take a terrible risk if he ever wants to see his family again."