My new friends have begun to suspect I haven’t told them the full story of my life. “Why did you leave Sierra Leone?” “Because there is a war.” “You mean, you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?” “Yes, all the time.” “Cool.” I smile a little. “You should tell us about it sometime.” “Yes, sometime.” This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and … are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them.
What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But until now, there has not been a first-person account from someone who came through this hell and survived.
In A Long Way Gone, Beah, now twenty-five years old, tells a riveting story: how at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts.
This is a rare and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty.
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This is how wars are fought inSierra Leone. Boy soldiers stolen from their homes, hopped up on drugs with AK 47’s. a remarkable true story of one of these boys. As horrific as his story is, the author is astoundingly lyrical in his writing. The inner emotions he shares are heart rending, yet there is a beauty about this book that made it …
This is the author’s own story. When he was about 11 years old, the world around him changed. War began and he had to flee his home leaving his family behind. Fearing that they are dead, he hides in the woods, stealing food and trying to stay alive. He finds another group of children who are also on the run, and together, they try to survive. …
I liked the details and how I can see the graffic and horrible things that was happening. it was amazing. I loved it
There’s another story about the childs who can’t live with it’s childhood. This books will gave you different perspective
A painful firsthand account of boys brought into war, and forced to face horrors most of us could never imagine. But also an incredible story of one boy’s journey to survive, to heal, and to speak for all those in war zones dealing with similar horrors.