My 6th-grade daughter was in her room in bed reading a book for a school assignment before she fell asleep. She came downstairs, practically in tears because what she was reading made her feel “jumpy.” I suggested she read further and get past the difficult part. She told me she had read the book before and it would not get better anytime soon. In case you are curious, it was Star in the Storm by Joan Hiatt Harlow. A girl hides her Newfoundland when the law makes it illegal to own non-sheepherding dogs in… Newfoundland. Proof that everyone has a different tolerance level.
During the same week, I began reading this book – Trash. At one point, I was reading in my car right before work and I could not get to a good stopping place. You see, the main character, a fourteen-year-old boy named Rafael, was being held by a single ankle outside of an upper story window by the police trying to get a confession out of him. I just wanted to get to a place where Rafael was safe long enough for me to work. I simply couldn’t have him fearing for his life for hours.
But what I realized was how very good we have it here in America. Ashamedly so. By daughter was crying because a book was scary to her. She couldn’t sleep. And there was that monster in the back of my brain (thank you Miss Malone) who wanted her to read Trash so that she would quit whining about being unable to sleep. She has a home and a family and more junk/stuff/treasures than her room has room for. She gets three meals a day and snacks and even dessert on occasion. She has the privilege to attend school. It is not necessary for her to work. She has a life of leisure as do I.
Trash is set in an unnamed third world country in a city based upon Manila in the Phillipines. Rafael works the great trash pile. It even has its own name, Behala. He spends his days hunting for trash to turn around and sell. The trash boys primarily look for plastic, but they can appreciate some old clothing or leftover food for themselves. But, the trash that they sift through is predominantly shupp – human excrement. Only the wealthy can afford toilets. The rest of the population put their waste in bags and send it to the dump. Children start working the dump as early as five.
One day, Rafael finds a bag with money in it and a key and a map. It is a great deal of money, but the key and map mean nothing to him, until the police show up at the dump in droves looking for a bag. They are willing to pay large sums of money to find it. They are willing to pay large sums of money to people to search for it. They are willing to have the garbage trucks backed-up for miles to keep it from being further buried. However, Rafael and his friend Gardo do not trust the police detectives or their promises of money – and rightly so.
Rafael’s auntie mentions Rafael finding something and though he vehemently denies any such thing, it is too late. The police will watch him, arrest him and force him to talk – truth or lies. And still kill him. Rafael knows this to be true. That is what happens to those who are only worthy to work in the trash. No one will notice his disappearance. No one will miss him.
Amazingly, Rafael, Gardo, and a boy known as Rat, with the naïve assistance of a priest and a nun, will find the lock that the key fits; find the code that will unlock the map; and uncover the secret treasure recently stolen from the criminal vice-president of the country. Not only will they find the millions of dollars originally hoarded away from the benefit of the country and its poor people, but they will not keep it for themselves, but return it to the people, the country, to whom it belongs.
This book leans heavily toward young adult despite its brevity. The first cover picture is the one my book displayed. The second is a new cover for reissue I believe. I find the first picture to be truer to the content. The second cover is misleading in its whimsical feel. These boys smoke and drink; lie and steal. It is their life and a pretty picture, it does not make. They struggle to survive. They run to survive. They do whatever it takes – to survive.
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