This book by Ishmael Beah was a 2008 Alex Award winner. This book had also been on display at Starbucks a while back.
If you've read this book, please leave a comment with your review of it and whether you think other readers are likely to find it engaging (do you think they’d be eager to finish it and perhaps start reading another book when they are done). If you recommend the book, please also state any themes or topics that would be good for discussion. Thanks.
3 comments:
This is a compelling story, but I honestly just can't finish it (which is unusual for me). It is just too depressing and I think that it would be a difficult read for many (most) students. Undoubtedly a book with lots to think/talk about, but I just can't recommend it personally.
Lindsay Hamm
Interesting story with lots of details of the senseless war violence and the drug usage of the soldiers. It took me a while to finish the book. It was something I could easily put down. The story is not told chronologically, but occasionally skips forward and then comes right back so its not always easy to know what part of the story you’re in. It also doesn’t go into why the war came about or when/if it ended and what is going on in Sierra Leone today or what the boy is doing today. So, while there are many topics to talk about in the book, I’m not sure people will find it well written and it is probably easy to skim and get the gist of what one needs to know. Since we are trying to find a book people want to read page to page and be eager to finish, this isn’t the book.
This is a beatiful book, and a when I finished it, I decided it was my favorite. Though it is very graphic and disturbing, Beah also writes truthfully and touches the heart. It is a very eye-opening book that everyone needs to read in order to understand the foreign country of Sierra Leone. I recommend it for those older than thirteen years of age, because of the extreme violence.
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