Ishmael Beah

Just read your book with my daughter. You amaze me!! I've read through the comments and can see that you have inspired and touched many people that same way I felt. keep smiling :)

Hello Ishmael,
My name is merek and I have read your book for my Honors English class and would like to now more about you beyond the ending of your book. We are writing an author biography and it is recomended that we attempt to contact the author to learn more. I'd like to know what have you done since you graduated from Oberlin, that is all.
Please write back, Merek Yevtich

Hello Ishmael Beah, I would like you to know that my English 101 teacher has assigned us a research paper on your book. I admire you and reading your book and seeing your videos has brought many tears to my eyes . My sixteen year old son is amazed by you. I have learned that my problems are small even on the days I am hungry too. But my life and the lives of others around me do not compare to the horrible life you have endured. I would like to commend you for the strong man you have grown up to be. Everytime I see your video or pick up my book to read it I cry and I pray for you and thank god for every day i wake up. I would like to know if you ever come to Los Angeles you could come to my english class, I would like to know what you are presently doing so I may include this reasearch in my reasearch paper. I would like to include you in my paper about you and as one of my source sites so if you can send me something i can add to my bibliography in my reasearch paper that one of my sources was actually you That would be great. Please e-mail me asap. thank you prisilla duran.

Hello Ishmael,

Seeing some of the other messages you've received on your page alone is inspiring. I read your book two summer's ago. I was left gaping through most of it, and I've held on tto most all of it. I first started really paying attention to the world around me when I was 15 or 16 in high school, after seeing a documentary about child soldiers, which I had really only started paying attention to because a few of my friends had a band playing in a benefit concert at the school for the same issue. It sparked me to do an art project fundraiser around the school, with profits going to the SaveDarfur organization. I'm 21 now, with a semester left for my graphic design degree. I've got a lot of plans/hopes/dreams/etc for helping out with various social and environmental issues. I had originally just wanted to find a way to e-mail you to show you an illustrated book cover I designed for a long way gone, and wrote accompanying copy for it. I'd wanted to give it to you if you would for whatever reason want to make use of it. (there's images at http://www.artguero.com if you click 'view galleries', it's the bottom right two thumbnails"). But in the process of trying to find this contact information I found that your foundation web page was not up yet, and wanted to offer my skills for any work you might need.

Good luck with all you do - you're an inspiration,
-Eric Falquero

Dear Ishmael,

It took me a while to read your book - I couldn't bear the idea that children took part in war! It was difficult to read and it left me with a lot of emotions when i finished reading. Thank you for sharing your experience and for telling the world what was going in Sierra Leone!
I am the same age as you and in 1996 I was leaving in russia, a happy teenage girl, who could never imagine someone on the different continent had to go through those hardships...
I wonder whether your book has been translated into Russian? I wanted to recommend my friends back at home to read it.

Thank you,
Dania

Mr. Beah.
I wanted to tell you how much your book touched me.
For my project I did child soldiers and sierra leone as my semester project. Ive never been so moved by a book. You came to our school in connecticut. I am writing about my reactions to your writing and questions, which was harder... becoming "used" to being a child soldier" or rehabilitating? i would really appreciate a reply. Me email is Ashleylaprincesa@yahoo.com if that is better. Thank you so much.

Hey there Ishmael, I'd call you Mr. Beah like most of the other people on this page do, but, naturally, I feel like I know you as a child not a grown man in your late twenties. I was blessed with a very healthy childhood (I'm 17 by the way) and would like to help all of those who are not, especially boy-soldiers, and after reading your book, why not start with Sierra Leone's finest. I'm one of the first of my friends who has read your book and don't want to sit around waiting for others to do so, because I know they will want to take part in raising not only awareness but money for your cause. Or maybe money isn't what you need. Anyway, this is a long-shot of a way to contact a famous author such as yourself, but It's all I've got. I wonder if you even know you have one of these things...the only reason I signed up was so I could message you. Get back to me or don't I'm still gonna try and help out. Thanks!

Hello. My name is Hawa Turay. I am 17 years old and I am a senior in high school. Im writing to you beacuse i would like to talk to you more about what you went throught while living in Africa during the war. You see I am doing my seinor project on the war in Sierra Leone. And i could use some factual information. My parents were born and raised in Sierra Leone. But they were here in the US while it was going on. So if you could please e-mail me back so we can talk I would gladly appreciate it. Thanks.

Hey Mr. Beah, I've read your book, and it really got to me. I'd like to help out with the cause, but I'm really not sure where to start... In March, I'm going on a humanitarian trip to Tanzania, and I've chosen child soldiers as the topic of an essay I'm writing for the International Baccalaureate program. I'm finding it hard to find sources for my essay, so I thought it would be a good idea to talk to someone that knows the issue well. I'd really appreaciate it if we could get in touch, I think that your insight would really help me write this essay. Thanks!

Hi Ishmael. I've read your book and it was sincerely moving as I could not stop pondering about the experiences you have endured. At this moment, I am researching child soldiers for an English Project. If you have time, I would be grateful if you could answer some of my questions about what you went through. My email is surferdude.mai@gmail.com. Thank you.