Trash

The thriller Trash, by Andy Mulligan, is an exciting adventure, set in a developing country much different than our own. Trash brings you into a world that most people will never have the misfortune to see: a huge garbage dump, whose stench and filth is really almost unimaginable to folks like us, whose trash is tidily placed in black plastic bags and conveniently handled for us by Sanitation workers. Most of us never see what happens after these workers pick up our trash; where it really ends up and in fact, we probably don't really want to know. This story is about the place where trash does ends up, in a third world country, and what life is like in this place for three young garbage pickers... until the day something incredible happens that changes all this and gives them hope for the future. Trash is very atmospheric, setting the scene with images of miles and miles of raw rotting garbage, human waste, and the overwhelming stench. The descriptions were so good I could practically taste the horrible stench myself. Raphael says, "It's a place they call Behala, and it's Rubbish Town. Three years ago it was Smoky Mountain, but Smoky Mountain got so bad, they closed it up and shifted us along the road. The piles stack up - I mean Himalayas: you can climb forever and many people do: up and down into the valleys. The mountains go right from the docks to the marshes, one whole long world of steaming trash. I am one of the Rubbish Boys, picking through the stuff this city throws away." Rat, Raphael and Gardo are brave, intelligent and fierce street kids who live at Behala. They take turns narrating the story from each of their perspectives. You may be surprised by their self-reliance, kindness and abilities to figure out clues and information. Trash follows the story of these three young kids who live in the garbage dump, looking for anything they can salvage from the waste to sell for pennies to live day by day with little hope for the future. Or is there hope.....? One day, one of the boys, Raphael finds a mysterious small cloth bag containing a wallet and some other things in among the mountains of trash. This find is destined to change his life and those of his two friends forever. After finding the bag, the boys are on the run, as they soon find out that the police will do anything to get this bag and its contents. Read Trash to find out what will happen in this crazy mad chase of a novel. Find out why the police want this bag more than anything and what happens to the three young boys because they get involved using their wit and courage to solve a very dangerous mystery that has huge implications to them and many other people. I highly recommend this book if you love books that make you really care about the characters and what happens to them. If you love a thrilling page turner that you will not be able to put down, all the way to a most satisfying conclusion, you will definitely enjoy this book! Background information for the Librarian: Trash brings up many important and thought-provoking questions for further discussion, such as: Why are people living this way? Or, Is there any way out for them? The author Andy Mulligan has lived in Manila Philippines for four years and teaches at an international school there. In an interview about Trash, he wrote: "All teachers at my school make a visit there (to the dump) and you are confronted with these biblical images," recalls Mulligan. "It's like one of the circles of hell. You are watching seven-year-olds crawling through the rubbish right next to 70-year-olds - and you have in that vision the absolute solid image of what that seven-year-old will become. You just think this can't really be true and you are overwhelmed by your own impotence - there is not a thing I can do about it." Pauli, M. (2010) Andy Mulligan Talks Trash. Web. Accessed on 7/14/2011. [...] Mulligan, A. (2011) Trash. Andy Mulligan's Website. Web. Accessed on 7/14/2011. [...] Smokey Mountain Dump [...] YouTube: People of Smokey Mountain [...]

This book opens our eyes to the complications of living in poverty, the power that can be built by corrupt politicians while allowing the reader to fall in love with three filthy amazing young boys. The story is full of interest and suspense. It was a set book for 14 year olds but rather challenging!

I picked up this novel because I was looking for something new and fresh to add to my classroom reading list; I thought it might be a high interest story for my students (7th grade), something to keep them from getting squirmy in their seats when they hear the words, "And the next novel we will read is..." Simply put, this book is breath-taking. From the descriptions of the dumps to the charisma of its protagonists, this book is a page-turner. Mulligan sets his novel in a fictional third world country, although there are elements that suggested to me the setting could be our very own United States (i.e. - a train station called "Central," possibly alluding to Grand Central). In a clearly dystopian society, there seems to be no middle class--only the wealthy and powerful and the ne'er-do-wells. The poor live in the city dumps where they sift through mountains of garbage on a daily basis looking for food, clothing, and any item of value to sell. It is in one such pile that Raphael, a young boy of about 13, discovers a map, a wallet, and a key--all items of great value, great mystery, and great danger. When Raphael and his friend Gordo decide to solve the mystery of the wallet's owner, they enlist the help of Rat, an 11 year old with quick hands, quick feet, and a quick mind. Together the three embark on an adventure that could lead them to a life free of poverty and trash...or lead them to death. Suspenseful, gritty, and honest, "Trash" stays with you long after the last page is read. For anyone with tweens and teens, this book is a must read. It invites conversation about corruption, trust, and, of course, poverty. It's a wake-up call to us all that Behala isn't truly a fictional place, but one that exists even in our own backyards. Boys will love it for the action and the rebellious attitudes of the protagonists. Girls will enjoy it because the compassion it invokes. Parents and teachers will love it for the lessons it reminds us of--those of determination, friendship, and perseverance.

This is an exciting, thought-provoking Young Adult novel that is high interest and low reading level. It makes readers aware of the struggle of poor children. The conflict the children face when they find a paper bag with a key, an ID and money in a dump site makes for some interesting decision making. I enjoyed the book so much, and thought there was no way the author could end it without being trite. To my surprise, he found the perfect ending, meaningful and not contrived. This is a great book for anyone to read, but I highly recommend it for reluctant readers -- especially boys -- from grades five through high school. I enjoyed it as a 61-year-old adult.

When I was 19, I knew someone whose father was the ambassador for a Caribbean island. I was invited to spend a week at the ambassador's residence, in their guest cottage. This was in the capital, not the vacation areas - which is what US citizens normally think of associated with the Caribbean. I had no idea it would be one of the biggest shocks of my life. It changed my view of poverty forever. I witnessed first-hand extremely well-off people - people with mansions, servants, every luxury you could imagine - living within 15-20 minutes from families whose houses were an 8 by 12 foot living area for 6 - 8 people, with only corrugated tin or cardboard for walls and a dirt floor. No running water, no WC...hundreds and hundreds we drove by, and nobody commented. I was appalled. This was 1980. I have no doubt the problem there, and in the Philippines, as well as many other places, continues. The one good thing that happened is that I started becoming more active in both how I donate and who I elect. Every child in this country who has a problem because their parent hasn't bought them the latest video game, computer, piece of clothing...they need to read this.

Raphael, Gardo, and Rat are dumpsite boys in an unnamed country, earning money by sifting through the enormous mountains of trash for something worth selling. When a bag containing a large quantity of cash and a key is found by Raphael, the three boys become involved in a mystery which threatens their families, the neighbors in their poor community next to the dump, and their own lives. I listened to an audio version and found the change in voices between the three protagonists and a few minor characters made the story really come alive. It probably helped keep the story straight as the chapters moved between the viewpoints of those characters. This is a story which needs to be told, as it undoubtedly is the story of children in some parts of the world. Middle school students will relate to the idea of finding something and not telling the police about it. If they don't follow politics (which middle school students do?), they will learn that those in power/government do not always have the people's best interests at heart. If they are compassionate, their hearts will break for the choices these three boys have to make. I have recommended this book to students in my library and will continue to do so.

A fast paced story about young boys living in squalor trying to solve a dead man's clues to 6 million pesos.

I saw this book advertised on the back of my son's Boys' Life magazine and after reading the synopsis of the book I decided to order it from amazon. My 11-year old boy is a great reader but, doesn't enjoy reading and is very picky about what he reads. I am constantly researching, purchasing and renting books for him. He just started this book today. After he had read for his required amount of time, he found me and wanted to tell me all about the story up to the point he had read. As far as I am concerned, that is a good book! Otherwise, he reads a book, closes it and wants to just forget about it until the next day when he knows has to read it again. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the book. I can't wait to hear what happens next!