TESTIFY

Reached #1 on the NY Times List of Books That Will Sicken, Then Somewhat Redeem You

I WANT MY BLANKIE

We all have something special of value that brings us comfort, keeps us grounded. When everything else seems to spiral out of control, it's the special thing we lean on for support. It is familiar, predictable, welcoming, and able to distract us from the outside world. When the outside world intrudes and destroys that special thing, or it loses whatever hold that made it special, we lose hold on our own reality and enter something new and fearful.

Imagine: You are forced to leave your home and flee for your safety. You have to leave now. Sorry, no car. What do you take with you? What one thing do you grab that you want to save? It's probably that special thing. Difficulty: No wireless access.

Mine would probably be my Star Trek books, loaded onto a Kindle. That's my escape, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I used them when I was twelve and I still do now, to get away from stress, tragedy, and otherwise.* I even grabbed the few I owned and hustled them with me to the basement during tornado warnings, imagining that we'd emerge to an apocalyptic scene, or in another dimension, and these books would be my guide to negotiation with strange aliens, or used to pass the time while my dad built us a shack.


*There's a huge spike in my Star Trek consumption when a woman dumps me. By Star Trek, I mean booze. And Star Trek. 


I was lucky to only fantasize a radical change in my life. Ishmael Beah lived it, in the most severe terms.

You're twelve years old, a normal kid. You like rap music and you're part of a dance team. Then, one day, soldiers enter your town and shoot up the place. You flee with your friends, separated from your family. You wander the wilderness, staying away from the main roads, walking by night to make it to the safety of towns unaffected by the brewing civil war, hoping for news of your family. Then, one day, you're stopped at gunpoint by the military, and forced to join the fight against insurgents. They train you to be a killer, hook you on drug cocktails that keep you awake for days at a time. This haze becomes all you live for, and anything else is a bother and a bore. you become a brutal, soulless killing machine.

Then, suddenly, it stops. You're released from the army and sent to the capital city for social rehabilitation. You get to go through the agony of drug withdrawal, fights with many boys going through the same thing, and an existential journey of identity and loss. Boy, am I ready to go fetal and read about Vulcans and warp drive.

Set phasers to fantasyland!

The most gut-wrenching moment in this book comes when Ishmael and his friends are captured, and his rap tapes are confiscated and burned. There is loaded (language arts alert!) symbolism to this moment. When his tapes are burned, Ishmael ceases to be himself and becomes an automaton for the military.  His one comfort is stripped; the last reminder of his previous life. And the monologue in my head goes on like this.

JUST THE BEGINNING

This is a can't-miss book for YA and adult readers. Social Studies teachers especially, read this book and share it with your students. The immediacy of reading about someone their age being forced to fight in a war far beyond him is riveting (and revolting), and the redemption Ishmael achieves leaves us on a positive note. In the big picture, his story brought awareness of and action against the use of child soldiers in African nations, which still happens in massive numbers. Teachers can use this as a supplement, or a springboard, for case studies in African culture, politics, war, and pressure from international powers. Students might further their relationship with Beah, who has remained a public figure.

Set phasers to How you can smile and have hope for Sierra Leone and the rest of the world after what you experienced is beyond me. 

Since moving permanently to the United States and establishing himself as a goodwill ambassador of the United Nations, Ishmael has used all the contemporary elements to spread his story and to reach like-minded people, and those of us (not me!) who had no idea.

Beah Foundation - Actively directed by Beah. Dedicated to treating and re-socializing child soldiers. Sounds familiar.

A Long Way Gone - Official website for the book. Some media that might be useful to teachers.

He was even on The Daily Show:

And naturally, Ishmael is on Twitter:
Tweets by @IshmaelBeah

Holy crap, he watches Breaking Bad! #treadlightly

NEXT TIME, I YELL ABOUT

Surprise! Another book set during the First World War! This time, two young girls encounter an injured soldier in a forest, and that's as much as I know. Let's just say the sequel should be called THE GOLDEN MULE!

BORING STUFF

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

Ishmael Beah

2008 Sarah Crichton Books

The boy who harnessed the wind and made the rest of us feel like we're wasting our lives

I'm struggling with whether to put a fart joke here

Yeah well, I didn't invent a damn thing before I was 20, other than lies about my homework. 

I have nothing but praise. This guy has the goods. 

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind is my-life-so-far book by a William Kamkwamba, who spent much of his adolescent years determined to bring free electricity and irrigation to his family's home in poverty- and drought-stricken Malawi. If you can point out Malawi on a map without labels, congratulations. It's a story of overcoming stiff odds and one person's drive to succeed and should rightfully be celebrated. At the same time, it strikes me as a cautionary tale for people in developed countries who take for granted the comforts of their lives, and to never stop thinking.

William pursued something that would improve his life, but also would teach him to put faith in science and human ingenuity over the "magic" purported to hold sway over the people in Malawi, and that he once believed to be a legitimate source of power. Further, he was ridiculed by others in his village for his pursuits, labeled a wacko pothead, which for a time brought shame to his family. There are heavy lessons in here for anyone willing to put in the time, e.g. my world studies class next term. SUCKERS! It's important, too, to read the final pages on being recognized for his achievements by the international scientific community, which goes to show that hard work and ingenuity will not go unrewarded. The guy got a free ride through college and on The Daily Show for crying out loud. 

I categorize this book as YA non-fiction for the following reasons:

1) It was a written by a young adult

2) Deals with concepts around self-improvement and self-discovery to which YA readers can relate

3) It reads smoothly, and the 960 Lexile means that is well within the range of high school readers. 

4) YOU CAN'T STOP ME.

5) We need more realistically uplifting non-fiction for our kiddos, and this one does the job, with the added benefit of supplementing the book with social studies content and all of the media around William and other inventors like him. I can see using this book in the classroom for years to come. 

Boring Stuff

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind

William Kamkwamba (with Bryan Mealer)

2010 Reprint William Morrow

Next time, I yell about

a book about three teenage boys mired in a never-ending war, with one chance to get out alive. Let's just say  THE NUMBERS DO THE TALKING!