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Community Book Connection 2009 - 2010 A Long Way Gone |
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Ishmael Beah - Author
Ishmael Beah grew up in Sierra Leone, Africa, living a very simple, unremarkable and happy life. He went to the river to fetch water in the morning, bathed in the river, and went to school, playing soccer afterwards.
At the age of 12, Ishmael’s life was turned upside down when civil war came to his village and claimed the lives of his family. Because he lost everything, he joined a group of boys who wandered the countryside until they joined the government troops and became soldiers. Ishmael lived a life handling AK-47 rifles and machetes. Often on drugs, he learned to kill. A Long Way Gone is Ishmael’s first-hand account of his experience in the army.
After three years of horrific fighting, Ishmael was handed over to UNICEF workers and taken to a rehabilitation center where he began to get his life back. In the center, one of the things that people kept saying to him was ‘It’s not your fault.’ That was difficult because it made the life Ishmael had lived seem unimportant. He needed to relearn to live a peaceful life, similar to any war veteran returning to civilian life. (from Iowa Sate University Web site)
Ishmael Beah biography from Literature Resource Center (off campus access)
Ishmael Beah Official Site by publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux
*Interview with Ishmael Beah with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show on February 14, 2007.Ishmael Beah's life as a refugee boy soldier in Sierra Leone actually made Jon's heart hurt...it's a really great interview...it actually might be nice to share in a class if you choose to use the CBC book in your ACDV class
Youth leadership profiles Ishamel Beah from Voices of Youth UNICEF
YouTube videos of Ishamel Beah - Almost 100 YouTube videos of Ishamel Beah
ABC video interview with Ishamel Beah Video on returning home after the war.
Author and Sierra Leone war refugee Ishmael Beah reads an excerpt from his book, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.
Boy Soldier, Ishmael Beah, defends his book.
Laura Simms Ishmael Beah's adoptive mother gives information about her adopted son.
Article on NYC24.org, "A Child Soldier Grows Up." View three video interviews, including one about his life with Laura Simms.
Ishmael speaks at "Paris Principles" conference, where 60 nations signed accord to prevent use of child soldiers. Feb. 6, 2007
The New York Times Magazine feature story published shortly before the book came out is titled "The Making, and Unmaking, of a Child Soldier" (Jan. 14, 2007).