At age four, Rosa was brutally kidnapped from her parents when they where traveling on a crowded bus in Guatemala City. Rosa was left down alone in an alley, and since then she doesn't know better than she was travelling with this man who she had to cal Uncle. Her mother used to nickname her 'Tzunun', which is the Mayan translation for Colibri (Hummingbird).
Most of her early childhood has slipped from her memory, but she does remember that the "first job" her mother gave her was "to be honest. Which doesn't work out quite long in a country as Guatemala and with an untrustworthy uncle who tries to make her pickpocket tourists.
Tzunun does not leave Uncle because she is afraid of being alone, and Uncle keeps close watch over Tzunun because a fortuneteller predicted that she will lead him to treasure some day.
Together, they have traveled from town to town in the highlands of Guatemala, scraping out a living, hoping to find the treasure. Eight years have passed, and Rosa has turned twelve. No treasure has been found, and Uncle has almost given up hope. When he turns angry and desperate, danger threatens Rosa from all sides - but especially from Uncle himself.
The story of Colibri really raised a few question marks in my head. Some parts of the story just were not worked out very clearly, especially at the end, when suddenly a note is found in Uncle's wallet with on it the real name of Rosa and her the street and town of her parents.
And it didn't became clear to me at all who kidnapped her, was it Uncle or somebody else?
This just was annoying at certain points, and beside that the story lacked some more action.
Overall a nice cross-cultural novel set in Guatemala, a book where I haven't read a book about before, especially not focused on younger readers. This really is a good point for the author Ann Cameron, and makes it a nice quick read for everyone who loves books about Central America.
