A Long Way Gone Reading Journal Pgs. 1-50

     As the book begins you find yourself seeing through the eyes of Ishmael Beah. He speaks of the times he remembers the first time he was ever "touched" by war. He describes how life was good for him prior to the rebels reaching his small village of Mattru Jong in Sierra Leone. He describes how much he admires his older brother Junior and all that he has done for him in his life.
     When the actual invasion of his village takes place you see some of humans most basic instincts take over the 13 year old boys. Their first instincts was to run as fast as they could and as far as they could quickly as possible. They move village to village along their long journey. It describes how many people were afraid of these small boys because of all the boy soldiers now being recruited to sack and pillage villages. This was unfortunate for the boys for they were innocent at heart and meant no harm to anyone.
    In one of the chapters it describes how Ishmael loses his brother Junior in a village raid. This was a very emotional part of the book for Ishmael looks up to Junior in so many ways. He never does see his brother again and i can only imagine how hard that must have been. Now after that village raid he ran into a jungle by himself. This as you can imagine for a 13 year old boy is terrifying. It describes how for a total of six days Ishmael was lost within the jungle. He encountered wild pigs, deer, and many other native animals. He later found a path and after six days made human contact. He surprisingly ran into a group of five boys he knew from the school he had went to and they carried on together.
  In my opinion this is an excellent book so far. I've never read a book so detailed about the pain and the strife that a boy during a time of war must be and feel like. Life over in Africa is extremely different from that in America or anywhere for that matter but i feel so connected to Ishmael in all of his adventures. They are learning more about life than anything I could possibly come to know any time soon. I'm excited to continue reading this amazing book and the secrets I am yet to find.