Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Bitter Side of Sweet
Bitter Side of Sweet | Tara Sullivan
13 posts | 14 read | 10 to read
For fans of Linda Sue Park and "A Long Way Gone," 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 toMoke 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. Tara Sullivan, the award-winning author of the astounding"Golden Boy," delivers another powerful, riveting, and moving tale of children fighting to make a difference and be counted. Inspired by true-to-life events happening right now, "The Bitter Side of Sweet" is an exquisitely written tour de force not to be missed."
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
review
WriterAtHeart
The Bitter Side of Sweet | Tara Sullivan
post image
Pickpick

This 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.

38 likes1 stack add
review
library.dreamer
The Bitter Side of Sweet | Tara Sullivan
post image
Pickpick

Do 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

review
Texreader
The Bitter Side of Sweet | Tara Sullivan
post image
Pickpick

Brothers 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

BarbaraBB Great review. When is it set? 2y
Librarybelle Great review! 2y
63 likes2 comments
blurb
Texreader
The Bitter Side of Sweet | Tara Sullivan
post image

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

BarbaraBB That is interesting, to taste the differences! 2y
Librarybelle Oh! I love tasting chocolate from different parts of the world! 2y
64 likes1 stack add2 comments
blurb
Texreader
The Bitter Side of Sweet | Tara Sullivan
post image

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

Leftcoastzen Beautiful! 2y
BarbaraBB Very interesting!! 2y
DivineDiana A treasure! I love jewelry that have stories! 2y
Librarybelle Amazing! ❤️ 2y
59 likes4 comments
blurb
Texreader
The Bitter Side of Sweet | Tara Sullivan
post image

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

Librarybelle Amazing!! 2y
Kammbia1 Like this map! 2y
59 likes1 stack add2 comments
blurb
Texreader
The Bitter Side of Sweet | Tara Sullivan
post image
blurb
kellyann28
The Bitter Side of Sweet | Tara Sullivan
post image

My latest book haul from BookOutlet! Cant wait to squeeze these into my overflowing TBR shelf 😍

review
cmwilliamson316
The Bitter Side of Sweet | Tara Sullivan
Pickpick

I had no idea! Check this book out if you're a chocolate person.

review
SoMuchBooks
Bitter Side of Sweet | Tara Sullivan
post image
Pickpick

Excited about my road trip read!

1 like1 stack add
blurb
Peddler410
Bitter Side of Sweet | Tara Sullivan
post image

On the Anderson's Bookshop Mock Newbery list. Sounds awesome and meets my not set in North America reading challenge.

review
Librarylady
Bitter Side of Sweet | Tara Sullivan
post image
Pickpick

This 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.

11 likes2 stack adds
review
Paula.hollohan
Bitter Side of Sweet | Tara Sullivan
post image
Pickpick

Great 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.