Boy Soldier's Memoir on Sale in Brookside

We blogged last week about Ishmael Beah's book, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. Beah was a teenager in Sierra Leone when he was pressed into service and exploited by the nation's army in its fight against a rebel group.

After years of violence and combat, much of it fuelled by army-administered drugs, Beah and other boys soldiers were rescued by Unicef. Beah ended up in the U.S., where--against all odds--he became a college student and a writer.

We picked up a copy of Beah's book the other day at the Starbucks in Brookside. (From what we could glean, Starbucks is promoting the book as a part of a humanitarian effort in Africa.)

We've only read excerpts of the Beah's story, but it's a gripping and terrible tale. It's also a small miracle that Beah survived the ordeal in his right mind and he has turned his horrifying experience into a story American readers can appreciate.