Treasure of the World

By: Tara Sullivan

Narrated by: Gisela Chípe

A young girl must find a way to help her family survive in a desolate and impoverished Bolivian silver mining community in this eye-opening tale of resilience.

Twelve-year-old Ana wants nothing more than to escape the future set for her and her classmates in her small mining village. Boys her age are beginning to leave school to become silver miners and girls her age are destined to one day be the wives of miners. But when her often ill eleven-year-old brother is forced by their demanding father to start work in the mines, Ana gives up her dreams of school to volunteer in his place. The world of silver mining though is dark and dangerous and the men who work there don't want a girl in their way. Ana must find the courage to not only survive but save her family after the worst happens and a mining accident kills her father and leaves her brother missing.

Hope for the hopeless

This story brought me to unexpected tears. It was beautifully written. It is hard to believe that the lives of the miners and their families have not changed much in five hundred years. This is a lovely book that can bring hope to the school children of the Cerro Rico. The narrator, Gisela Chile was an excellent choice. It is the first time I have heard her read, she did a great job.