Ki-Jahna Crossman

Journal One: May 25th, 2011

I've been pretty busy with other subjects in school but so far I've read up to page 15. I can already tell that this is going to be a great book! There's already been so much interesting things. I didn't think that there would of been a raid so early in the book, and I wasn't expecting for a young child to see so many people dying and dead on the streets.

I thought that from what I have read, it will be a very intersting chapter full of shocking events, because even in these first few pages I've read, I'm already shocked. I can't imagine how scared this boy must of felt, and it's still hard to believe that something like this could happen in our world! It's so heartbreaking and reading about how he saw the woman with the dead baby caused me to cringe. I was honestly mortified. I couldn't believe that something like that could of happened. At that point I just had to close the book and put it away to stop myself from crying.

As sad as this book is, I am still looking forward to see how things turn out for Ishmael. I hope his parents are alive and well.



Journal Two: May 26th, 2011


I've been reading this book all day and I'm about to start chapter 8. The things that have gone on in the last 7 chapters was terrible!

I really think that what had happened in Sierra Leone in 1993 is definitely one of the saddest things I have ever heard. But to witness it is a whole different story. I don't think anyone should be subject to any kind of violence, especially young children. Children are easily influenced and they act out what they see around them, or they could think that being in a violence-filled environment is normal, so they begin to act violent as well. That's not right. I just wish that people could solve their issues in less violent ways, because innocent people always get hurt in the crossfire. I feel so bad for Ishmael and all the other citizens of Sierra Leone. No one deserves to be witness to a civil war.

A part of what I have read that really got to me was in chapter 7, when the attack in Kamator happened. I was really shocked when Ishmael had said that Kaloko had saw the imam at the mosque get tied up with wire and burned alive. I think it's really sickening that they would kill an innocent man in one of the worst ways to die. He was helpless since he was tied up so it wasn't like he could stop, drop and roll. I'm not a follower of the Muslim religion but I think that it is a sin to murder someone. I know that it is in Christian religions, and I find it really disrespectful to the Muslim religion that they killed the imam, who they took out of the mosque after his prayer.

Another part of what I read that I found really interesting is how at the end of chapter 7, Ishmael met a family swimming in the water and when he was asking the father for directions, he told him to go near the ocean and ask someone else. The rest of the man's family were giving him dirty looks when he was trying to be friendly. They didn't trust him, which I found to be really sad, because he is only twelve years old after all and he's still young. But I guess, with the circumstances that they were in, and with the fact that the rebels recruited child soldiers, that would make people fighting for survival very uneasy and they begin to trust no one. It's quite sad that things had to get to a point where people you knew become your enemy, and you can't trust anyone but yourself.

Journal Three: June 7th, 2011


This journal is mainly going to be about chapter thirteen, mainly because it was the chapter that made me hurt the most.

So, at this point in the book Ishmael and his friends have made their way to a village protected by the army of Sierra Leone. They were allowed to stay and they were provided with food.  Word came to the village that the rebels were planning on attacking this city and the army was in need of soldiers, so they asked that men and young boys join their forces, and the women stay in the kitchen with the babies to make rations. The lieutenant warned that if they left, they would be killed, and a man and boy had fled the village. Soldiers found their body and showed it to the rest of the villagers, saying that this is what awaited them if they tried to leave. So Ishmael and his friends felt no other choice than to stay and fight. They were to begin training the next morning. The commanders gave the boys white tablets for "energy" and he told them that they should take no mercy on the rebels, for they killed their families far worse than anyone has been killed. He told them to attack banana trees and stab them with bayonets, and they slept on blankets in tents. Ishmael was sleeping in the same tent as two younger boys, Josiah and Sheku. When training was over they went into battle and finally got their guns to use. Josiah and Sheku were smaller than the others so their guns were dragging on the ground since they were heavy for the boys. Bullets travled through the air and a rebel launched an RPG that hit Josiah and he went flying into a tree. The explosion shattered his spine and he died. Ishmael's friend, Musa, was also killed in the fight.

This chapter makes me extremely sad, because children shouldn't be deprived of their childhood, their friends or family; they shouldn't have to take part in violent acts and they shouldn't have to kill people to survive. They should be living life freely and enjoying their childhood.

I am now at the beginning of chapter fourteen, and the army has gotten Ishmael addicted to marijuana, that white tablet and brown brown (cocaine and gunpowder). It makes me so upset that the army, who was supposed to be protecting the citizens of Sierra Leone, would use them as tools of destruction and cause them to become addicted to multiple types of drugs.

The more I read this book, the more I think of how I have life so easy. My mom has always told me that I did, but until reading this book, it would have never really clicked in. I am grateful for everything I have and I'm grateful that I never had to go through what Ishmael did. I wish he didn't have to either.


Journal Four: June 12th, 2011
The End: So I have successfully finished the book, and I found it to be such an inspiring and uplifting book. It gives me hope for anyone, even myself, who are or were in a slump at some point in life and thought they hit rock bottom. with the correct amount of treatment or help, anything is possible.

Ishmael is a huge inspiration to me because he came from living a hard life to where he is now, being UNICEF's first Advocate for Children Affected by War.  He is an  extraordinary person who comes from a place where all he knew and grew up with is war. His story is so motivational; who ever reads it can't say that they don't like it and fell nothing since it was such a heart breaking story. It must of taken so much courage for him to share his story with the world, but I'm glad that he did, because now I know what went on in Sierra Leone and now I can learn to really appreciate everything God and my mother have done for me and given me. I'm sure he can relate as well, for he is so lucky to still be alive today.

This book makes me feel like no one should take anything for granted, and from now on that's what I'm going to try and do. I feel like a weight has been lifted off of me and that I can do anything with the right support system behind me. I can cherish my family and friends and I can try and be a happier person, knowing that I am so lucky that there isn't a civil war in Canada and that we are lucky that we live in one of the safest countries in the world. It's unfortunate that Ishmael had to go everything that he did, but thanks to his book I'm seeing things in a new light. It would be amazing if he ever came to Sir Wil for a Me to We assembly. It would be so inspiring, just like when Michel Chikwanine came last year. His story was similar, as he was a child soldier too.

Overall, I loved this book. I normally don't read books but I'm glad that I read this. I would love to have the chance to read it again and again.