Bibliograph

I am a taxi, by Deborah Ellis

Type

Label

I am a taxi, by Deborah Ellis

Language

eng

Index

no index present

Intended audience

730L, Lexile

Literary Form

fiction

Main title

I am a taxi

Nature of contents

dictionaries

Responsibility statement

by Deborah Ellis

resource.studyProgramName

Accelerated Reader AR, MG, 4.8, 5, 109350.Reading Counts RC, 6-8, 5.5, 10, Quiz: 40369.

Summary

For twelve-year-old Diego and his family, home is a 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 and were mistakenly convicted of drug possession. Diego's parents are locked up, but he can come and go, to school, to the market to sell his mother's handknitted goods, and to work as a "taxi," running errands for other prisoners. But then his little sister temporarily runs off while under his watch, 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

Target audience

juvenile

Classification