 | Treasure of the world Author: Sullivan, Tara | |
| Price: $8.19 | ||
Summary:
After a mining accident kills her father and leaves her brother missing, twelve-year-old Ana puts her dreams on hold and goes into the mine to help her family survive in their impoverished Bolivian silver mining community.
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 02/01/2021 Twelve-year-old Ana lives with her family in a small Bolivian mining village. Papi (who drinks too much and abuses his family) insists that Ana's younger brother Daniel come to work with him in the mines, despite his being sickly and unsuited to the task. When Daniel falls ill, Ana temporarily takes his place, enduring rock falls, bad air, toxins, and verbal abuse from the other miners. Then a mining accident results in Papi's death and Daniel's disappearance, leaving the family completely destitute. Sullivan, who addressed child labor in the cocoa industry in The Bitter Side of Sweet (2016), here exposes the tragedy of child miners forced to leave school to help support their families by working in the mountain that eats men. Much of this story is grim, with food insecurity, domestic abuse, and sudden death all expected events. Readers are left with a glint of hope as Ana fixes her sights on a life outside of the mines, but the dire plight of all these families is abundantly clear. - Copyright 2021 Booklist.
