Deeply moving and wholly compelling, The Prisoner Runner is an eye opener on how easily a child can get used by the drug trade in Bolivia. Diego is a good boy, and smart too. While his parents are in prison, he makes money by running errands and doing homework for students who are less able then him. But sick of the drudgery and eager to help make his family’s life better, Diego joins a friend on a mystery mission which promises to pay them well. But the mission is drugs. Diego is forced into the horrifying labour of creating cocaine. Diego’s story is as gripping as it is horrifying and the background of the inexorable link between drugs and the exploitation of the poor in one of the world’s poorest countries is as fascinating as it is horrifying.
The Lovereading comment:
This is one of the most powerful and compelling novels you’ll ever read about the effect of cocaine production on the city children of Bolivia. It’s the story of ordinary kids caught up in extraordinary situations living a nightmare away in the jungle in the clutches of men who produce drugs for a living but who thought they were being employed to get rich in order to build a better life for their family back home in the city.
Diego had never been in the jungle before. He'd lived with his family high in the hills, and then he was a prison kid, a city kid. His nights were bare lightbulbs burning, women and children crying, guards yelling and keys clanging. He hated it, but it was what he was used to ...' A simple error of judgement hurls Diego into a nightmare. He's been living in prison with his mother and sister, looking after them and earning money whenever he can. Until the day he accidentally breaks the rules. Suddenly the family are in trouble, and Diego needs money to save them. So when one of his friends tells Diego that he knows a job that will make them both rich, Diego gives into temptation. But the job is far different from the one he'd imagined, and Diego soon finds himself in the heart of the Bolivian jungle and the clutches of men who produce drugs for a living.
Deborah Ellis has achieved international acclaim with her courageous, sensitive, and dramatic books that give western readers a glimpse into the plight of children in developing countries. Her Breadwinner trilogy has sold hundreds of thousands of copies in twenty-five languages, and she was awarded the Governor General’s Award for her book, Looking for X.
Deborah grew up in Ontario, Canada and from the age of 17 has been a political activist, advocating non-violence. After high school she went to Toronto and worked in the Peace Movement. Later she got involved in the Women’s Movement, focusing on women’s rights and economic justice. She has spent a lot of time in Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan, talking to women and documenting their lives through 20 years of war.
The stories she heard and the children she met were the inspiration for The Breadwinner, Parvana’s Journey, Mud City, My Name is Parvana and One More Mountain.
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