In 1993 at the tender age of 12, Ishmael Beah became a child soldier in Sierra Leone. His biography opens with his relatively peaceful, happy life, full of friends, music and dancing to American hip-hop. But his childhood is abruptly altered by war and unthinkable violence.

When rebels invade, Ishmael flees his village with his brother and four other boys, never to see his family again. Three months later, his brother is killed. Eventually, young Ishmael begins wandering with another group of boys. They don't know where to go for safety, and villagers they meet distrust them. They endure long stretches with little food, they witness many terrible killings, and they encounter scores of mutilated bodies. Worse, they live with the mental anguish of not knowing when it will all end.

After days of wandering, soldiers coerce the boys into joining them to fight the rebels. With potent and plentiful drugs and brainwashing, the boys are easily convinced that as soldiers they can avenge their families' deaths. For over two years, they are child soldiers, thinking they're doing the right thing by brutally killing. They live by the code "kill or be killed" (p. 126).

Finally after two years, Ishmael is rescued by UNICEF and taken to a rehabilitation center. It takes him over a month to withdraw from drug addition and many more months to retreat from his violent behavior. He is plagued by severe migraines and recurring nightmares.

After eight months at the rehabilitation center, a kind uncle takes him in and his life begins to return to a semblance of normalcy. However a few months later, violence breaks out again in Sierra Leone. Ishmael realizes how easy it would be to return to the life of a solider. At 16, with fortitude beyond his years, he manages to flee his county.

Today, he lives in New York City. He wrote this book to tell the world about the horrors of war and agonizing plight of child soldiers.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldierby Ishmael Beah is shelved on the first floor of the Library in the Bestsellers section near the Circulation Desk.