Student Review: A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

This book gave me some sense of what’s going on around the world. It centers on a boy named Ishmael Beah who was a boy soldier in Sierra Leone when the War was going on. It talks about how he felt when he saw his family die around him and his time as a boy soldier. I really liked the book; it gave me such a good picture of what was going on and left me wondering about how Ishmael survived and escaped such a traumatic event that caused thousands of deaths.

At the beginning, it shows how everything was pretty and peaceful. Although as quickly as it paints the picture of peace it’s quickly all destroyed by soldiers coming into his town. As all of this unfolds it makes you feel horrified as he describes the people around him once they escaped from the attack on how people have lost their families and their mourning, and Ishmael misses his family and wants to try and find them again. As he tries to make it out alive so much happens to him, and it just keeps getting worse for him. Through the book, it really shows a grim place as people don't trust each other stab each other in the back just to survive the type of world they live in.

After finishing reading this book I thought it was a really good book because it shows things that some people didn’t know what happened in Sierra Leone. It does a really good job of showing just how bad it was over there when the war was going on. This book really talks about some haunting imagery, but things needed to be talked about so people can acknowledge what’s going in the world, and this book does exactly that by talking about what happened over in Sierra Leone.   
By Seth W.

Student Review: She Said Yes by Misty Bernall

She Said Yes by Misty Bernall

Does anyone remember the Columbine High School shooting that happened on April 19, 1999? Two rage-filled students opened fire on the student body, killing thirteen individuals? She Said Yes by Misty Bernall, tells the story of her daughter, Cassie Bernall, who was one of the thirteen victims. The focal point of the story is how when asked at gunpoint if she believed in God, she said yes. The book is told by her mother and offers a narrative of how this young woman went from a teenager with a mindset unsettling similar to those of her killers, to the person who managed to touch the entire nation with her unlikely martyrdom.

This book is short, sweet, and very touching. If someone doesn’t believe in the Christian faith, this book may not be for you. But it does have several accounts of what happened during the infamous Columbine Shooting. I would recommend it to anyone who would like to know more of that day, and how the girl who became known the world over for the shooting, became who she was. The book is an excellent tribute to her memory.

Reviewer: BF