“Savage is the most accurate adjective for this work, by acclaimed German writer Dolf Verroen, about slavery.  What makes this novel a different, brave and successful one is the point of view chosen by the author to “show” the brutality of slavery. That is because the one who speaks is María, a girl who is given a slave, Koko, as a present in her 12 birthday. For her, this is a natural event, she does not question it and she just treats her slaves the same way she see in other relatives. This story resembles a diary, with forty short chapters, each one focused on a different moment in the days after Maria’s birthday, written by means of short sentences, like a poem… sentences that lack emotion or reflection about what María is living, they are just a list of facts and events…  the author does not condemn slavery directly, he does not judge María, but he rather let the readers come to their own conclusions after checking the contempt this little girl feels for those from other races or backgrounds.” (Children and Young Adults’ Literature Notebooks, CLIJ).