The Bitter Side of Sweet by Tara Sullivan

From Goodreads,

"Two young boys must escape a life of slavery in modern-day Ivory Coast

Fifteen-year-old Amadou counts the things that matter. For two years what has mattered are the number of cacao pods he and his younger brother, Seydou, can chop down in a day. This number is very important. The higher the number the safer they are because the bosses won’t beat them. The higher the number the closer they are to paying off their debt and returning home to Baba and Auntie. Maybe. The problem is Amadou doesn’t know how much he and Seydou owe, and the bosses won’t tell him. The boys only wanted to make some money during the dry season to help their impoverished family. Instead they were tricked into forced labor on a plantation in the Ivory Coast; they spend day after day living on little food and harvesting beans in the hot sun—dangerous, backbreaking work. With no hope of escape, all they can do is try their best to stay alive—until Khadija comes into their lives. 

She’s the first girl who’s ever come to camp, and she’s a wild thing. She fights bravely every day, attempting escape again and again, reminding Amadou what it means to be free. But finally, the bosses break her, and what happens next to the brother he has always tried to protect almost breaks Amadou. The old impulse to run is suddenly awakened. The three band together as family and try just once more to escape."

Goodreads - The Bitter Side of Sweet

Awards and Nominations:

• Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Nominee (2018)
• Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award Nominee (2018)

As a teacher I dread November 1st because kids try to bring candy for snack and sneak it in to snack on in class.  This book shows the hard work that is put in to get the cacao we need for chocolate.  I know it is two days after Halloween, but I am so glad this review is posting so close to this candy filled holiday.  

Amadou and Seydou went to work at a cacao farm to earn money for their family.  They struggle to chop enough cacao pods, but for two years they have made it.  But one day a rebellious girl named Khadija shows up.  She fights against the bosses and continuously tries to run away.  Her brave spirit causes trouble for Amadou and his brother Seydou.  But one day, Amadou and Khadija decide they have had enough and they decide to work together to get Seydou to safety in hopes he will survive after a tragic accident.  

I loved this book in the same way that I love chocolate.  I never stop to think about how the chocolate we consume came to be.  This book really forced me to think about how the cacao pods were picked and how it was processed to become chocolate and other things such as coffee or cocoa.  Seydou and Amadou work on a cacao bean plantation and they are forced to cut the pods for no money.  Putting it in simple terms, they are slaves at the plantation.  This book really made me more aware of child slavery in the world.  There are undoubtedly children working to make our clothes or help make or process things that we consume.  It is so unsettling that children are working to make items and food products.  I think that as consumers we need to be more mindful about what we are buying and where it is from.  This book definitely left me wanting to contact my favorite chocolate companies to find out where they get their cacao from and if it is free of child slavery.  This really brought awareness to me and I think others would feel the same if they read this book.

There was a lot I loved about this book and one of them was the character transformations that happened with each of the main characters.  Seydou had to learn how to overcome and persevere in learning how to do things all over again after an accident at the plantation.  As the book progressed Seydou also went from being the helpless younger brother to the independent young boy.  He started to work to cut enough pods for himself to avoid a beating.  Khadija arrived at the plantation with fire in her belly and determination in her soul.  She was dead set on escaping the plantation no matter what happened to her along the way.  She really had to learn to control her desire to escape, and learn that if she would just roll with the flow and do as she was told she would find the perfect opening.  This was hard for her, but it ultimately helped everyone escape.  Amadou was the slowest transformation in my opinion.  He had to learn how to trust other people besides Seydou.  He also had to learn how to be brave.  He had tried to escape before, but had been caught.  As a result he was hesitant to try escaping again.  His braveness, thanks partly to Khadija pushing him, helped him escape along with Seydou and Khadija.  I think it is good for people to read books where the characters change and transform.  It is good to know that absolutely anyone can change who they are with a little hardwork and determination.

There was one particular part in the book that was brought up a couple different times after it happened, and it left me a little unsettled.  After Khadija arrives she gets in trouble and is put in the shed with Amadou.  The bosses at the plantation later open the shed door and Amadou watches while they do something to Khadija.  It is never said what exactly happened, but one can put the pieces together and assume that she was raped.  I understand that Sullivan included this to show the callousness of the bosses, but I felt like it was a bit much.

This book was an eye opener and a book full of transformations.  I highly suggest everyone read it to become more aware of the child slavery that is happening and how it impacts us.  I give this 5 stars.  If you like anything that has cacao in it, then you absolutely need to read this book.