I Am a Taxi (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780888997364)

Winner of the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award

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.

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6
Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6
Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

Author: Deborah Ellis
ISBN-10: 0888997361
ISBN-13: 9780888997364
Publisher: Groundwood Books
Language: English
Published: 09/01/2006
Pages: 208
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.45lbs
Size: 7.53h x 5.13w x 0.57d

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 4.8
Point Value: 5
Interest Level: Middle Grade
Quiz #/Name: 109350 / I Am a Taxi


Review Citation(s):
Quill & Quire 09/01/2006 pg. 66
School Library Journal 12/01/2006 pg. 138
Horn Book Magazine 01/01/2007 pg. 65
Kliatt 01/01/2007 pg. 22
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2007 pg. 68 - Superior,Well Above Average