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I teach an incoming freshman university course for which this book was chosen; otherwise, I would have never picked it up to read as it didn't seem my genre of choice. I am thankful I did. This book changed my way of thinking about the all-too-often unknown other. This book was meant to be read by someone like myself who 'would have never picked this book up in the first place.' While many tears were shed, perhaps from my confrontation with the true story or with myself, I think the story's main character is so very believable and real that it is impossible to stop reading. The story follows a young boy (Ishmael Beah the author) whose family home, family, and city are destroyed by insurgents ready to take over Sierra Leone. Dragged into fighting by drugs and sorrow, the young boy fights despite himself, that is, until he meets someone who can help him out of his circumstances. I was lucky enough to meet the author in whose presentation, water works still fell from my eyes. He is so real and seems just as sweet as the voice in his narrative... maybe because it was his own voice live and in person.