A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, by Ishmael Bea

My summer reading book was, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, by Ishmael Beah. I think the author wrote this book to share what the lives of many Africans are like. He talked about his life as a boy in the middle of a war. There were rebels going against the government, and they killed innocent people. The country of Sierra Leone always lived in fear; with little food and clean water, and a lot of warfare taking place. Ishmael, the author and protagonist, was forced to join the army for the government, at a young age. His book shows how he and the people of Sierra Leone got through and survied the civil wars.

The real life issues in the book  that are present today, are the civil wars in Africa. Africa is made up of many countries, and in some of the countries, many people don't agree with their government. The people start civil wars of the poeple vs. the government. This is becoming a big problem for many countries. These wars start, usually because the government doesn't give people all the rights they want. The author feels these are big issues, because he has experienced this first hand. He has seen his country break to piceces, and looses everything he has, including his family. Ishmael Beah, the author of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, strongly disagrees with the civil wars, and wants to bring an end to them.