The coca leaf in its natural form is an important part of indigenous culture in rural Bolivia. In the cities, however, the dealing of it is illegal as it can easily be transformed into the dangerous drug cocaine. Diego’s parents have been framed for trafficking coca leaves. Although innocent, they are in jail, and Diego and his little sister live with their mother in the women’s prison. The women and children in the prison community are responsible for obtaining their own food and clothing. To earn money for his family, Diego is a “taxi,” running errands and messages for the women both within and outside the prison walls. But when he loses the privilege of working as a taxi, he reluctantly accepts a job offer from a foreigner, a man who offers big money to Diego and a friend for short-term work in the forest. The first of Deborah Ellis’s Cocalero novels exposes the injustice and exploitation that combine to determine Diego’s harsh and harrowing fate. Both corruption and the legal system—in his own nation and on the international scene—are working against the young boy, who finds himself thrust into the midst of a large and deadly cocaine ring. The bosses attempt to placate both his hunger and his ambition by plying him with leaves to chew, but Diego is determined to survive and break free. (Ages 10–14)

Twelve-year-old Diego is a “taxi” who earns money by running errands while living with his mamá and young sister in a Bolivian prison. Although intelligent and diligent, Diego becomes entangled in the rapacious cocaine trade. Trying to atone for a costly momentary lapse, Diego ends up in a forced-labor camp carrying kilos of coca leaves, then treading endlessly in chemical soups, which later become cocaine. He finally escapes into the jungle—unmindful of his fate. Ellis parts the curtain, allowing us to see how a gift of the gods becomes the raw material of a destructive drug trade. 2007 White Ravens, 2008 OLA Golden Oak Award Nominee, 2008 Shortlisted—Al berta Children’s Choice Book Award, 2008 Shortlisted—Manitoba Young Read er’s Choice Award, 2007 SSLI Honor Book Award, 2007 YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, 2007 CLA Book of the Year Honour Book, 2007 CCBC Our Choice, 2007 Winner Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award, 2007 SYRCA Snow Willow Award, 2007 CCBC Choice. jfc