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

A Long Way Gone:  Memoirs of a Boy Soldier is a true story of the life of a 12 year old boy, Ishmael Beah, during the Civil  war in Sierra Leone in the 1990's.  Ishmael comes home from a journey to find that his village is under attack by the RUF (Revolutionary Unit Front) or rebels and flees to find safety with his older brother and other children his age.  After a year or so of traveling around, scrounging for food and water, and looking for a place to go, he finds out that his whole family has been slaughtered by the RUF.  Ishmael and his friends are soon after recruited by the Sierra Leone Army and forced to become soldiers.  The boys are brainwashed and forced to become brutal killers in the name of the government even carrying out scouting expeditions and capital executions of rebel prisoners.  After a few years in the army, some of the boys, including Ishmael are rescued by UNICEF and taken to a rehabilitation center to try and learn to be boys again.  Eventually, Ishmael is rehabilitated and travels to America to give interviews and speeches on his experiences during the war.

This book intrigued me and infuriated me all the same time.  It's hard to imagine the life of child in such a way  as Ishmael had lived his.  The hardships even before the war much less after his family was killed and he became a boy soldier.  Also astounding is the fact that he went on to live a successful life after such atrocities and to work for the cause of the betterment of children everywhere.  It just proves that people can change even in the face of adversity.  When he first became a soldier, he was the same age as my son is now.  I read this book really quickly and highly recommend it.

A Long Way Gone was nominated for a Quill Award in the Best Debut Author category for 2006 and was published by Sarah Crichton books in 2007.  

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

I read a review about this book online somewhere that said it was pretty good so I put it on hold at the library and I have to admit that for the first few chapters I was slightly bored but I'm glad I kept at it because I ended up enjoying this book very much and falling in love with the characters.  It became a quick read, a page turner for me. 

June Elbus is 13 years old when her uncle Finn, her best friend and her godfather, dies of Aids in 1982.  She is hurt and angry and feels left behind until she finds an unlikely friend in Finn's "other half", Toby whom she had not known during Finn's life.  It was a family secret kept from her because her mother felt like Toby gave the Aids to Finn and refused to have any relationship with him or let her family know him.  But we know that love always prevails and the family does come together full circle in the end. 

I felt like I could relate to both loner June and her outgoing sister Greta and having a sister myself, the tension and love between them. The characters in Tell the Wolves I'm Home come off as real and honest and I liked that.  

Published in June 2012 by the Random House Publishing Group.

Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent

Heaven is For Real:  A Little Boy's Astounding Story of his Trip to Heaven and Back.

I have to admit that when I first picked out this book at the library, which I put on hold and had to wait quite a long time for, I was skeptical.  I opened it right to the middle and starting reading which is totally out of character for me because I wanted to skip the technical stuff and get right to the little boy's comments about Heaven.  I was immediately charmed by his simple way of describing what it was like in Heaven.  So I started back at the beginning.

Todd and Sonja Burpo are on a family vacation when their 3-year old son Colton becomes violently ill.  They rush him to the hospital and soon after find out that he has an erupted appendix which requires emergency surgery.   After much prayer by Todd, a pastor, and his congregation, Colton recovers from surgery and all is well.

Shortly after they are home from the hospital Colton tells his parents that during the surgery he had actually died and that his soul astrally traveled to Heaven.  He tells his parents of things he learned that he couldn't possibly have known about such as relatives he met who had passed before he was born and a sister who had been miscarried.  He said that he had wings and that he sat on Jesus' lap.  He saw the throne of God and the gates of Heaven.  

This book is a fast read and I enjoyed it very much.  I do feel like I have a sense of renewed faith after reading it because I don't think it is possible for little kids to make up stuff like that.  It is possible that the parents read more into his visions than he proposed but all in all I believe his story.

Heaven is for Real was published in November 2010 by Thomas Nelson and was on the New York Times Bestseller list.