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 enlarge | Author: Ishmael Beah
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Category: Book
List Price: $22.00
Buy Used: $1.80
You Save: $20.20 (92%)
New (119) Collectible (14) from $5.87
Avg. Customer Rating:  411 reviews
Sales Rank: 1966
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.7 x 1
ISBN: 0374105235
Dewey Decimal Number: 966.404
EAN: 9780374105235
ASIN: 0374105235
Publication Date: February 13, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee.
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| Customer Reviews:
 And you think you have it bad September 30, 2008
An inspirational story. This young man lost his family, his home, his innocence, but managed to start over.
Vivid reminder of appalling conditions outside the "American bubble" September 30, 2008
"Killing was as easy as drinking water" is the analogy Ishmael Beah uses to describe his time as a child soldier in the war-ravaged country of Sierra Leone. His memoir is a hard read, but a must read. The descriptions and details made me want to believe his tale was fiction, but sadly I knew it was not. Truth can be shocking and horrifying, but sobering as well.
Ishmael lost everything due to the war and was then recruited as a soldier for the government. The government! I have read countless stories about child soldiers for rebel armies, but this was news to me. These so-called government troops gave children the option of starving and going it alone or being taken care of by joining the army. High on drugs to the point of insomnia, the children were trained to fight anyone outside of their troop.
Reading this book made me angry. I felt a lot of emotions I don't like to feel. But to read this book and not feel those emotions is a crime. We in America need to be exposed to more stories like Ishmael's because we have more power to invoke change.
Ishmael was one of the lucky ones. UNICEF was able to rehabilitate him. Most child soldiers die, but even some who end up at a rehabilitation camp never heal. Many go back to the front lines because war is the only reality they know. Childhood memories have long been washed away with blood.
I urge you to read this book to educate yourself on issues not directly related to you. Read this book to feel someone else's pain. Read this book to see how the rest of the world often lives. Read this book to be grateful of where you live. And finally, read this book and refuse to forget Ishamel.
a must read! September 29, 2008
this book was extremely enlightening and disturbing...very hard to believe this is STILL going on!
my honest opinion............ September 24, 2008
This is not a book for the faint of heart. It's descriptions at times are so graphic, so realistic, it is if you are their beside the characters enduring the fate that awaits. It is very well written.
I easily became engrossed and didn't want to put it down, although i was honestly disappointed with the ending, finishing all too soon with not enough information to satisfy.
I have no trouble recommending this book to others, knowing they will take something away from the heart moving read. Matter of fact i have brought copies already and have given them as gifts, with one friend saying it was awesome, and is up their as one of the best books he has read.
Don't pass it up, READ NOW!! and i can only hope you will be motivated to want more for the youth of the world.
A Boy Soldier Speaks September 23, 2008
I found the book to be very interesting and revealing of what young boys who are forced to kill others must do to survive. I had never realized what they go through and the rehabilitation they need to cope with their feelings afterward. To lose their parents first and then experience the need to run for their lives gives us as free citizens the appreciation of the freedoms we enjoy.
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