Sierra Leone

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, by Ishmael Beah (2007). This compelling memoir chronicles one child's journey through the chaos of the civil war in Sierra Leone. Recruited by the army at age 13 to be a child soldier, Beah takes part in atrocities and must learn to accept and forgive himself after UNICEF brings him to a rehabilitation center. In recounting his story, Beah takes readers across the landscape of Sierra Leone, engaging them with the culture and people of a country often remembered only for its brutal civil war.