Deborah Ellis,
I Am a Taxi
Groundwood Books, 2006

Rating: E*

"Taxi!"

Diego’s feet took him out of the cell before his ears were completely sure what he’d heard. The thing to do was to move fast. He couldn’t run on the steps - that would mean a fine for his mother from the prison committee - so he walked down them as quickly as he could. ...

"Taxi!" Diego heard it again.

In the next instant he was standing in front of Mrs. Morales. Two other boys got there almost at the same time. They were faster but not as fast as he was." (p. 24-25)

Twelve-year-old Diego, his mother and his young sister are living in a cell in the San Sebastian Women’s Prison in Cochabamba, Bolivia, where his mother is serving a 17 year term for supposedly trying to smuggle cocoa paste (His father is in the men’s prison across the square).

While his mother has to remain in the prison, Diego and his sister are free to go outside - Diego goes to school, he goes to the market to sell his mother’s knitted goods so she can make money to pay rent for their cell at the prison and but food and he is a "taxi" - he runs errand for people in the prison and in the town for which he receives payment. One day while Diego is caring for his little sister she disappears and looking for her causes a disturbance in the prison for which his mother is fined and Diego is prohibited from being a taxi. With a desperate need for money, Diego is enticed into his friend Mando’s plan to make big money quickly.

Diego finds himself in the jungle in the midst of an illegal drug operation where he, Mando and three street boys spend their time labouring in a large pit converting cocoa leaves into cocoa paste which is then sold to make cocaine. To make the boys work more effectively they are given cigarettes laced with cocoa paste which puts them in a state of drugged euphoria so that they work long hours and need little sleep. When Diego and Mando realize that they may never get any money for their work, and indeed may never be able to get away from this situation they try to escape. Unfortunately Mando falls to his death and Deigo is recaptured, only to be taken away by the gringo, Smith - the man in charge of the whole operation. Once they reach the new destination. Diego again runs away. Smith pursues him through the jungle but gets caught in quicksand and Deigo manages to find his way to a farm where he is taken in by a family. The book ends at this point with no real resolution as to what will happen to Diego, however, Ellis includes a short excerpt from the sequel The Sacred Leafwhich will be released in the fall of 2007.

Once again, Deborah Ellis takes us into the harsh realities of a developing country. In the author’s note she states that "Bolivia is the poorest country in South America and the second-poorest in the Western Hemisphere". Many people are involved in the illegal drug trade and no doubt the exploitation of children - such as we see with Diego and his friends - is rampant in the country. Ellis’ research for her books takes her into the specific countries about which she writes and her visit to Bolivia provided the setting and background for Diego’s story. It is told in a stark, realistic manner and shows a way of life which is almost impossible for most children in Canada to imagine.

I am a Taxi will be enjoyed by male and female readers in the intermediate grades and I’m sure they will enthusiastically await the sequel The Sacred Leaf to find out what new adventures await Diego.

Thematic Links: Bolivia; Illegal Drug Trade; Cocaine

Victoria Pennell
Vol. 12, number 3
February 2007

*Rating System:
E - Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!
G - Good, even great at times, generally useful!
A - Average, all right, has its applications.
P - Problematic, puzzling, poorly presented.