Trash by Andy Mulligan
David Fickling Books, 2011. ISBN 978038561902 8
(Ages 12+) Highly recommended. Thriller. When two boys find a
wallet with a key, some money and a letter on their morning trawl
through the rubbish heap called Behala, they are stunned. Not the
usual
shuppa, paper filled with shit, or the leavings of the city, the
rotting food, rags and paper, but money. They seek out Rat, who they
know will be able to hide their find while they work out what to do.
They are the lowest of the low, the poorest of people, the ones who
reuse rubbish for a living Illiterate, relying on food and a
smattering
of education from the local Catholic priest, they are emaciated,
smelly
and fast.
When the police swarm over Behala asking if anyone has found
something,
they are quiet, it's never a good idea to be mixed up with the
authorities. But Gaudo's mother calls out that the boys have found
something and almost swallows her words. The boys try to explain
that
it was nothing, but they become targets, and one is taken by the
police
and brutally questioned.
The boys begin to realise that they have found something quite
significant, and so begin to piece together the information they
have
about the wallet and its contents. Furtively, using their skills
learnt
on the streets, they collect what is in the locker belonging to the
key
they found, from there they seek out the owner of the letter, a man
in
jail, near death. They find that he was the servant to a wealthy
embezzling senator who lost a great deal of money, and the boys work
through the clues given to finally unravel the mystery of where the
money was hidden.
A fascinating story of the boys using their learnt skills surviving
in
this the poorest of places, to outwit the authorities and find the
hidden money, ensuring their own futures, will have kids eagerly
reading to the end. Along the way they will learn of how some other
children in the world live, those on the streets in Manila, a
stunning
contrast to the wealth of that place, and the ease in which we live.
Fran Knight