A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier is a memoir written by Ishmael Beah, an author from Sierra Leone. The book is a firsthand account of Beah's time as a child soldier during the civil war in Sierra Leone. Beah ran away from his village at the age of 12 after it was attacked by rebels, and he became forever separated from his immediate family. He wandered the war-filled country and was forced to join an army unit who brainwashed him into using guns and drugs.

• Companion Titles available at WHS

  Graphic Novels

  • War Brothers : the graphic novel  by Sharon E. McKay, Daniel Lafrance ; art by Daniel Lafrance      
    • GN 741.5 McK
    • A graphic novel adaptation of the author's novel about a group of boys in Uganda who are kidnapped and forced to join the Lord's Resistance Army, or LRA, and their desperate escape, only to return home to discover that their friends and family are afraid of them.

• NonFiction 

  • Nurturing the peacemakers in our students : a guide to writing and speaking out about issues of war and of peace   
    • by Chris Weber      
    • Pro 303 Alo
    • Offers middle and high school teachers practical strategies to inspire and nurture the peacemakers among their students by introducing them to works by adolescents who have experienced war firsthand
  • The children's rights movement : a history of advocacy and protection 
    • by Joseph M. Hawes     305.23 Haw
    • A Japanese-American family during W.W. II attempt to survive in a detention camp