Wednesday, May 13, 2009

A Long Way Gone - Ishmael Beah

A Long Way Gone - Ishmael Beah (2007)
I was thinking about this book as I was loading the poster, and wondering if it would be a good book for boys to read at high school? I went to an all girls school, and I know we did Lord of the Flies, I think this would be a perfect book to follow on from that. Lord of the flies was about what happens when there are no rules, and choosing how to behave.

In Ishmael Beahs book, he is a young boy who is seperated from his family in Sierra Leone. At 13 he becomes a boy soldier and with gobys his own age, they are supplied with cannabis, speed and AK47s and then sent to fight the rebel army. Not only fighting rebels, I think this book tells horrible stories about what happens to civillians, women and children in a country where there was nowhere safe to hide.

3/5 for this book, and one I might think about buying for my own newphew to read one day. Especially when he complains about bored he is or how tough life is. I guess none of us really know how lucky we are.

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