The Bitter Side of Sweet | 
pickThis story follows three characters and their life in modern day slavery on the Ivory Coast. Sold onto a cacao farm, Amadou must learn to survive and keep his younger brother safe. Then an unlikely encounter changes their lives.
pickDo you know where your food comes from? The Bitter Side of Sweet is a harrowing story of three children escaping the horrors of a cacao plantation. A must read. CW: physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault, slavery, medical content
pickBrothers go to work on a cacao plantation in the #IvoryCoast to earn money to send home to Mali, but they soon learn it‘s a slave camp from which there is no escape. That is, until a feisty girl is dragged into the camp, challenging their ideas of their situation. This YA book tells the gruesome story of unpaid child labor to fulfill the enormous global desire for chocolate. Highly recommended. #readingafrica2022 @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB
Reading the tagged book about how cacao pods are harvested put me in the mood for some African chocolate but thankfully not from the Ivory Coast (I‘ll explain when I write my review). I got these this weekend to try out chocolate from Madagascar, Tanzania, and Ghana. #readingafrica2022 @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB
My husband‘s father and stepmother lived in #IvoryCoast for awhile. While they lived there his stepmother made me this necklace from beads she bought there. I love that I have so many mementos from my husband‘s and his family‘s years they spent in Africa. We have thrilling letters from his dad who lived in Kenya and then the Ivory Coast about his life and travels in Africa after my husband moved from Zambia back home to Norway. #readingafrica2022
Since I finished two books in this challenge today & I‘m starting the tagged book, I figured it was time for an update on my map! I‘m reading the tagged book for #IvoryCoast and The Chimpanzee Whisperer for #Burundi. I‘d already read a book that included Burundi in small part. The Chimpanzee Whisperer is about a man from Burundi who sets out to save the apes and I figured it will give me a more well-rounded view of the country. #readingafrica2022
My next audiobook. #IvoryCoast #readingafrica2022 @BarbaraBB @Librarybelle
My latest book haul from BookOutlet! Cant wait to squeeze these into my overflowing TBR shelf 😍
pickI had no idea! Check this book out if you're a chocolate person.
On the Anderson's Bookshop Mock Newbery list. Sounds awesome and meets my not set in North America reading challenge.
pickThis book nearly broke my heart but was impossible to put down. Sullivan has written a young adult novel about the farming of cacao beans in Africa which are used to make chocolate and how children are forced into slavery to work at these farms. Although Amadou and Seydou's story is a work of fiction, Sullivan's story was hard for me to read - I had a hard time with how these children were treated. Sullivan brings attention to an important issue.
pickGreat as a high school read to inform about child labour and the chocolate industry as a culprit in using kids to harvest cacao pods. All the characters are interesting especially the older brother, Amadou who remains himself in this harsh culture.
