Trash by Andy Mulligan is a thrilling novel about Raphael Fernandez, a trashboy living at Behala dumpsite. His family is poor, and he is forced to work at the dumpsite, looking for useful and valuable pieces of trash to sell so he can keep his family alive. He spends his days with his friend Gardo, roaming the gigantic mountains of trash. One day he finds a bag. It doesn't look like anything valuable, but after a quick look he finds money, a key, a map and an ID for a man they don't know. After a while the police come looking for the bag, claiming it was thrown away by mistake. But the boys decide to keep it hidden, confident that the bag is just the start of a adventure bigger than they can imagine. With the help from another trashboy called Rat, Father Julliard and sister Olivia they start to investigate the contents, which leads them to both a mysterious man in prison and a graveyard in the middle of the festival of death.
As you follow the boys on the road to knowledge, you realize how small they are compared to the corrupt police and government. You also find out how far the government is willing to go to keep some secrets to themselves. And the boys unveil a secret bigger than they could ever imagine.
The storyline in the book is very well written, even with the simple language. It's obvious that it was written for young adults, even though everyone should have read it because of the message it is carrying. it is a story about poverty, corruption and friendship, but more importantly; a fight against impossible odds. Three dumpsite boys are fighting against the government, the state, the big bad wolf with so much pover. And they just keep on going, not giving up. They want to solve the mystery, and knowing that the police wants to find it too makes them even more sure that the boys have to find it first. It is not a story of happiness, but a story of hope. The boys are hoping for a better future, and I think that's the most important lesson you can learn from this book. Never give up hope.
