Deborah Ellis I Am a Taxi

Annotation

For twelve-year-old Diego and his family, home is the San Sebastian Womens Prison in Cochabamba, Bolivia. His parents farmed coca, a traditional Bolivian medicinal plant, until they got caught in the middle of the governments war on drugs. Diegos adjusted to his new life. His parents are locked up, but he can come and go: to school, to the market to sell his mothers 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 Mandos 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.