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The Bitter Side of Sweet
by
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 ...more
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 ...more
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Hardcover, 336 pages
Published
February 23rd 2016
by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
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The dark underbelly of the chocolate industry, an indulgence many of us can't live without. Well, personally I can, I'm more into salty snacks, seems like you are either one or the other. Anyway apparently 40% of the cocoa pods are harvested on the Ivory coast of Africa, large farms and harvested by children in slave conditions. This is the story of three of them. Amadou is 13, his brother Seydou only six when they leave their home in Mali to, work on one such farm. They expect to get paid, make
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Fast-paced and engaging story about the dark side of the chocolate industry. For 12 & up.
Two years ago, Amadou (15) and his brother Seydou (8) left their home in Mali to find a seasonal job and earn money for their family. Instead, they ...more
I don’t count how many trees we pass because I don’t count the things that don’t matter. I don’t count unripe pods. I don’t count how many times I’ve been hit for being under quota. I don’t count how many days it’s been since I’ve given up hope of going home.
Two years ago, Amadou (15) and his brother Seydou (8) left their home in Mali to find a seasonal job and earn money for their family. Instead, they ...more

I love chocolate and eat some just about every day. Like most people, I never really gave much thought to where it comes from. I really had no idea. I do now, and it gives me grief to know what so many child workers, who are basically slaves, go through to harvest those cacao pods so we can all have a candy bar or a cup of cocoa, something they may never get to enjoy in their possibly short life, since most of them are beaten, starved, and overworked 7 days a week. I will keep eating chocolate,
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One has to be extremely angry, heartbroken, and sad when reading this novel. I know I certainly was. While accounts of such a story are nothing new to me, just like the conditions on the mining of blood diamonds, cocoa farms, using child slavery to harvest cacao pods without pay at remote cacao plantations in the Ivory Coast should infuriate anyone with a heart of compassion for their fellow human being.
Chocolate is one of our greatest indulgences and it's hard to find too many people who do no ...more
Chocolate is one of our greatest indulgences and it's hard to find too many people who do no ...more

Unbelievably good book! I couldn't put it down and read into the wee hours of the morning to finish it. Such a gripping tale of two brothers forced to work on a cacao farm harvesting the cacao pods. The treatment of these kids broke my heart and I couldn't breathe at parts were punishment was about to happen. I think everyone should read this. I will certainly look at chocolate a different way from here on out.
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Amadou and Seydou have been sent by their family to work on a cacao farm, but once they are there, they are mistreated and no money is sent to their family. They are regularly beaten for not picking their quota, and Seydou, who is only 8, is badly wounded in an accident. With the help of Khadija, an educated girl from the city who is also brought to the farm, the brothers escape and make it back to Khadija's mother, who is trying to expose the horrors of the chocolate industry. It is because of
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Amadou and Seydou are two young Malian brothers enslaved on a cacao farm on Africa’s Ivory Coast, the origin of much of the world’s chocolate trade. When another kidnapped worker arrives, the first girl among the enslaved children, her “wildcat” tendencies challenge the overseers and lead to horrific consequences for the children.
Although clearly written for younger readers, author Tara Sullivan masterfully conveys the brutality of the children’s situation without being graphic. Terrible things ...more
Although clearly written for younger readers, author Tara Sullivan masterfully conveys the brutality of the children’s situation without being graphic. Terrible things ...more

I love Golden Boy, but it's always a bit of a hard sell -- I usually have to explain what albino means, and then why Habo is threatened as an albino in Tanzania, and by that point the kids have given up. The idea of hunting a child as a magical talisman is just such a foreign situation.
Bitter Side of Sweet won't have that problem. "It's about kids who work as slaves on a chocolate farm, until their daring escape" is a quick soundbite for standing by the shelves. Not all middle schoolers want to ...more
Bitter Side of Sweet won't have that problem. "It's about kids who work as slaves on a chocolate farm, until their daring escape" is a quick soundbite for standing by the shelves. Not all middle schoolers want to ...more

I received a free ebook in exchange for an honest review.
"The bosses said we could leave when we'd earned out our purchase price." I add. "But they wouldn't tell me how much we owed, and in all the time we worked there, I only saw boys arrive or die, never leave when they wanted to. And we never once got paid."
This book tore me apart and glued me back together. Several times. I become attached to this book after just 50 pages and i neglected the other 3 books I am currently reading. I would defi ...more
"The bosses said we could leave when we'd earned out our purchase price." I add. "But they wouldn't tell me how much we owed, and in all the time we worked there, I only saw boys arrive or die, never leave when they wanted to. And we never once got paid."
This book tore me apart and glued me back together. Several times. I become attached to this book after just 50 pages and i neglected the other 3 books I am currently reading. I would defi ...more

I had a love-hate (90% love, 10% hate) relationship with this book. The reason for hate? "The Bitter Side of Sweet" was SO sad!! I even cried once and almost cried a billion times). But, there were so many amazing things in this book. Once I would start reading, I couldn't put the book down. The story is action-packed and fast paced, with a beautiful fluency to everything, plus in-depth characters.
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Chocolate has been one of my besties for a long time now, but this book kind of made me feel like it should be removed from my diet! Amadou and Seydou are characters who I just felt so deeply sorry for and I loved the fierceness of Khadija throughout the story. it did drag at some points and felt like it was much longer than a ten day journey but I liked how other people stepped up and brought some closure to the brothers. This one will definitely get you thinking!

This was an incredible book. It was about to boys named Amadou and Seydou who are brothers. They are working at a cocoa farm. They think that they will get paid but end up not getting paid. They work there for 2 years when a girl comes along. She does not want to be their like everyone else so she try's to escape. At one point Amadou and her try to escape together. This is a great story about never giving up. I would definitely recommend this book.
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This book tells the story of a 15-year-old boy called Amadou. He lives in Africa where the only thing that mattered the most was his little brother, Seydou, and cacao pods. The harder they work, the more pods they can chop down and collect in a day, the better their chances of staying alive. But they have never gotten paid or been set free to their homes. This goes on forever until they grow weaker and weaker.
Chocolate: a wonderful treat that people eat, put in desserts, and used to make hot ch ...more
Chocolate: a wonderful treat that people eat, put in desserts, and used to make hot ch ...more

Child slavery, working the cacao fields on the Ivory Coast. Poor farm kids from Mali looking for work, promised jobs in the cacao fields, find out they won't get paid and won't get to go home. The conditions are brutal, there is no respite, your family has no idea where you might be. Runaways are caught and beaten badly, let that be a lesson to the others. They work with pesticides with no gloves or breathing protection. They are given a minimum of food to eat. This isn't a job working in the ca
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My review (originally published at Read, Run, Ramble)
The Bitter Side of Sweet is the first and only book I read in December. Yes, you read that correctly – first AND only. I’ve been in a horribly hard to shake reading slump. For months I’ve gotten very little pleasure from the books I’ve read and just generally haven’t felt up to reading. That feeling has left me scared to pick up books because I’m worried the slump will affect how I feel about the book and I don’t want to ruin any treasures wit ...more
The Bitter Side of Sweet is the first and only book I read in December. Yes, you read that correctly – first AND only. I’ve been in a horribly hard to shake reading slump. For months I’ve gotten very little pleasure from the books I’ve read and just generally haven’t felt up to reading. That feeling has left me scared to pick up books because I’m worried the slump will affect how I feel about the book and I don’t want to ruin any treasures wit ...more


**Find this and other reviews, plus fun stuff, on my blogs! Booklikes or Blogspot**Basic Info
Format: Audio
Pages/Length: n/a
Genre: Young Adult
Reason For Reading: Cover
At A Glance
Love Triangle/Insta Love/Obsession?: no
Cliff Hanger: No
Triggers: n/a
Rating: 3 stars
Score Sheet
All out of ten
Cover: 7
Plot: 7
Characters: 6
World Building: 5
Flow: 6
Series Congruity: n/a
Writing: 7
Ending: 7
Total: 7
In Dept
Best Part: A nicely written female side character.
Worst Part: Wasn't too clear that they were little ki ...more

So many great things to mention about The Bitter Side of Sweet! First of all, I loved the relationship between brothers Amadou and Seydou, specifically how the reader can see them grow and develop over the course of the novel. They are always there for one another, as family should be!
I was very thankful that, although we learned about life on the farm, we didn't not have to endure the brutality through a first hand account. It was bad enough to imagine these things happening to children let al ...more
I was very thankful that, although we learned about life on the farm, we didn't not have to endure the brutality through a first hand account. It was bad enough to imagine these things happening to children let al ...more

Loved it! "The Bitter Side of Sweet" was written with such depth and eloquence that I simply couldn't put it down. The characters' emotions were represented in such a beautiful manner, so real, so rich. This book is a must read for anyone. It brings to life the struggles of kids who don't have a voice, and are so often forgotten. I didn't expect to fall into this story, but I ended up savoring every last word. "The Bitter Side of Sweet" has definitely earned its place on the Rebecca Caudill 2018
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The book The Bitter Side of Sweet was an eye-opener. Just one little cheap piece of chocolate can cost so much to someones lives. Amadou and his little brother Seydou are stuck in a fruit farm where they grow and pick cacao a fruit used to produce chocolate. Amadou is finding it hard to keep going as they get beatings regularly and Amadou had to take care of his little brother. Then wildcat arrives. Amadou finally realized how to save his little brother by trying something that seems impossible
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I love it! I just finished this book and I still can't get my mind off of it. Sullivan understands the human's thinking process in the best way anyone could ever understand. Then, she takes it one step further by making a book with it using lyrical and expressive writing. This book will help you understand why we fear the unknown, why we hesitate to trust, and what family and friends really mean to you.
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Would recommend for realistic fiction lovers, those who are interested in different parts of the world, and young social activists. The story of Amadou, Seydou, and Khadijah is striking and brings to light the untold horrors of the chocolate industry. This book makes you think about the real costs of what we consume.

Nonfiction pair with Bitter Chocolate: Investigating the Dark Side of the World's Most Seductive Sweet
by Carol Off ...more
by Carol Off ...more

Actual rating: 2.5 stars, but rounded down because it definitely doesn't deserve 3/5. While I can see why people like this book, I believe that it needs to be judged as a book, and not just as a lesson.
Overall Issues
loved not for being a book -- First and foremost, it pains me that this book has such a high rating on GoodReads. It has a terrifying and eye-opening story, but it's executed so poorly that how anyone thought this was an amazing book is beyond me. To me, this exact story could've bee ...more
Overall Issues
loved not for being a book -- First and foremost, it pains me that this book has such a high rating on GoodReads. It has a terrifying and eye-opening story, but it's executed so poorly that how anyone thought this was an amazing book is beyond me. To me, this exact story could've bee ...more

This was an excellent and very depressing book. I thought maybe I could use this one for my 5th-8th grade book discussion, but the subject matter is pretty dark. At one point the main character witnesses the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl and that act has repercussions through the rest of the book. Another character violently loses a limb. I had a really, really hard time listening to this one. I actually ended up checking it out three times altogether because I needed a break from the ver
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This is a heartbreakingly lovely story about fifteen-year-old Amadou and his little brother Seydou who work in a forced labor camp harvesting cacao on the Ivory Coast. The story explores child slavery, and you will never look at chocolate in quite the same way again. The author clearly did her research, but it never overshadows the story, which is, at its heart, about the relationship of two brothers and the fiery Khadija, whom they meet at the camp and who teaches the boys about hope and courag
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Both a horrifying and uplifting tale of child slaves on the Ivory Coast, picking cacao pods for the worldwide consumption of chocolate. Unfortunately, the author tries to politicize it a little too much, blaming it mostly on America. Much of the world eats chocolate!
It is a good book and probably should be used in freshman history/social studies classes. Two brothers beaten if quotas aren't met and then a young girl shows up at the camp. The cruelty intensifies and a child loses an arm. Anymore ...more
It is a good book and probably should be used in freshman history/social studies classes. Two brothers beaten if quotas aren't met and then a young girl shows up at the camp. The cruelty intensifies and a child loses an arm. Anymore ...more

This book is what I would call an eye opener. And I'll explain why in a moment.
The writing is intriguing enough to keep you captivated, and the story line...Well, it's kinda different from anything else I've ever read before. There's no romance (Sorry romance lovers. :/ ) but there is action, heartbreak, and incredible acts of heroism. I don't want to put in too many spoilers, but lets just say, my heart expanded a little when Khadija jumped onto one of the "bosses" back (Evidently giving hersel ...more
The writing is intriguing enough to keep you captivated, and the story line...Well, it's kinda different from anything else I've ever read before. There's no romance (Sorry romance lovers. :/ ) but there is action, heartbreak, and incredible acts of heroism. I don't want to put in too many spoilers, but lets just say, my heart expanded a little when Khadija jumped onto one of the "bosses" back (Evidently giving hersel ...more
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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DC Public Library: The Bitter Side of Sweet by Tara Sullivan | 1 | 19 | Apr 12, 2016 08:51AM |
Tara Sullivan is an award-winning author of Young Adult novels that address contemporary human rights issues. Born in India, she spent her childhood in Bangladesh, Ecuador, Bolivia, and the Dominican Republic. She received a BA in Spanish literature and cognitive science from the University of Virginia, and a MA/MPA in Latin American studies/nonprofit management from Indiana University. Her debut,
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