IOWA LAKES 2008-09 CORE BOOK CHOSEN
Iowa Lakes Community College has chosen A
Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah to
be the core book for the 2008-09 college
year.
Each year, the college selects a 'Core Book'
which is used as part of a cross-curriculum
effort in several classes.
The purpose of Core Book is to promote
reading and conversation about important
issues as well as stimulate critical
thinking about significant themes. Criteria
to select books include applicability to
various disciplines; readability;
universality; timeliness; and literary,
historical, and cultural merit.
A Long Way Gone is Ishmael Beah’s
first-hand account of growing up peacefully
in Sierra Leone, Africa. Ishmael joined the
army at the age of 12 where he learned to be
a killer after his family was killed in a
civil war. He was later rehabilitated at a
UNICEF camp even though he suffered from
post traumatic stress disorder from his
experiences as a soldier.
“Beah’s is a story of loss and
redemption—from orphan to fighter to
international participant in human-rights
conferences on child soldiers. While his
account of loss is painful to read…it is his
account of rehabilitation that most occupies
the reader’s mind—how these children who
become addicted to drugs and violence are
able to re-enter the world of civil
society.”—Jeff Rice, Chicago Tribune
An additional review came from the
Philadelphia Inquirer.
“It would have been enough if Ishmael Beah
had merely survived the horrors described in
A Long Way Gone. That he has written
this unforgettable firsthand account of his
odyssey is harder still to grasp. Those
seeking to understand the human consequences
of war, its brutal and brutalizing costs,
would be wise to reflect on Ishmael Beah’s
story.” — Chuck Leddy, The Philadelphia
Inquirer
Some of the previous core books at Iowa
Lakes have been A Sand County Almanac,
by Aldo Leopold; Common Nonsense, by
Andy Rooney; The Kite Runner, by
Khaled Hosseini; and Water Runs Downhill:
A Journey through a Time Gone By, by
Arne Waldstein. Iowa Lakes Community College
has been choosing a Core Book since 2000.
