Tara Sullivan’s young adult novel, The Bitter Side of Sweet, provides an account of modern-day child slavery in Ivory Coast, Africa. Although fictional, the story highlights the dark reality of the cacao industry as Sullivan chronicles the journey of three children to freedom. Sullivan’s adventure-filled survival story was published in 2016, and this guide refers to the 2016 edition of the book.

Plot Summary

Fifteen-year-old Amadou and his little brother, eight-year-old Seydou, work without pay on a cacao plantation in Ivory Coast, Africa. Amadou’s only focus each day is survival: They must harvest enough cacao pods to meet quota and avoid a beating. One day, a girl named Khadija comes to the farm. The only girl there, she quickly earns the nickname “wildcat” because of her fiery spirit and constant escape attempts. When she tricks Seydou into helping her escape, Amadou takes the blame for his mistake and helps one of the bosses, Moussa, recapture her. As a punishment, Amadou is badly beaten and is not allowed to work in the fields the next day, meaning Seydou will not have the protection of his older brother. Amadou and Khadija must work together seeding cacao pods all day, and when Moussa unlocks Khadija’s chains, she tries to run again. When the bosses recapture her in the middle of the night, Amadou hides in the shed while they beat and rape her. He comforts her as best as he can and takes care of her the next day. However, when the boys return from the fields at dusk, they are carrying Seydou, who is wounded.

Khadija now helps Amadou by watching over Seydou at the camp while Amadou works in the fields. Seydou’s injury worsens and becomes infected. The next day, Amadou returns from the fields to find that Moussa has amputated Seydou’s arm. That night, Amadou resolves to escape with Seydou and joins forces with Khadija. They sneak into the bosses’ house to get Seydou, and Khadija sacrifices herself by tackling Moussa so that the boys can run away. After running through the night, Amadou realizes he must go back to rescue Khadija. He sets the bosses’ house on fire to draw them away from camp, and releases Khadija and the rest of the boys. Amadou, Seydou, and Khadija sneak onto a truck that’s carrying the harvested cacao seeds. Through a series of events, they make it to Khadija’s house, where she is reunited with her mother, Mrs. Kablan, who is a journalist. There, they learn that Khadija was kidnapped to keep her mother from writing an article exposing the child slavery on cacao farms. Amadou learns that thousands of children are enslaved on farms just like he was, and that the cacao they harvest is used to make chocolate.

Before long, the men who kidnapped Khadija come to the house looking for Khadija, Amadou, and Seydou. They escape with Mrs. Kablan and drive through the night toward the Liberian border. Although it delays their escape, the children decide they must tell their story so that Mrs. Kablan can finish her article. They want the world to know the truth about the thousands of children who are enslaved on cacao farms. Mrs. Kablan takes Amadou and Seydou to a cacao farm that will pay fair wages for their labor and allow them to go to school, and Khadija and her mother go to France. Now, Amadou no longer worries about meeting a quota of cacao pods. He and Seydou are receiving an education, medical care, and payment for their work. They will take time off to visit home soon, and they are both gradually healing from the wounds of their enslavement.