A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Solider

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Introduction-Chapter 4

Reading Check

1. What inspires Ishmael to write his memoir?

2. Where is Ishmael from?

3. Who taught Ishmael how to cook?

4. What do the boys find when they return to Mattru Jong?

Short-Answer Response

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response. 

1. Why was the trip to Mattru Jong, in retrospect, useless?

2. What is the effect of moving back and forth between New York City and Sierra Leone in this memoir?

3. Why were the villagers in Mattru Jong left unguarded when the rebels returned?

Paired Resource

First They Killed My Father

• First They Killed My Father on SuperSummary
• A memoir by Loung Ung remembering the Cambodian genocide under Pol Pot
• A novel that connects to the theme of The Traumatic After-Effects of Violence
• How do these two memoirs of violence and genocide compare?

Hotel Rwanda

• A film touching on the theme of The Capacity for Altruism in Human Nature during the Rwandan genocide
• What are the scope and limits of the perspective Ishmael Beah gives us on the Sierra Leone Civil War?

Chapters 5-9

Reading Check

1. What saves Ishmael and his friends when they are captured by a village chief?

2. Who refuses to reveal the location of the villagers of Kamator when rebels arrive?

3. How long is Ishmael alone?

4. How does Ishmael know the group of boys he meets after being alone for so long?

Short-Answer Response

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response. 

1. What idea about human nature is suggested when the young boy’s mother gives Ishmael and his friends more corn even though they originally stole from her son?

2. Why are villagers afraid when they see Ishmael and his friends?

3. How would you characterize Ishmael’s mental state during these chapters?

4. Why doesn’t Ishmael tell the chief that they met fishermen when he asks if anyone in the village is aware of their presence?

Paired Resource

The Map of Salt & Stars

• A novel by Zeyn Joukhadar about a Syrian refugee working her way to safety
• What does Beah’s story tell us about escaping from violence in one’s country?

Chapters 10-13

Reading Check

1. Why did Ishmael’s grandmother call him “carseloi” or “spider” (Chapter 10)?

2. Where was Saidu hiding when his sisters were kidnapped?

3. Why do the boys walk at night?

4. Who is Ngor Gasemu?

5. Who sees Ishmael as a protector?

Short-Answer Response

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response. 

1. How has Ishmael’s mood changed over the course of the memoir?

2. What does Saidu mean when he says he will soon become an “empty body” even while alive (Chapter 10)?

3. What does the boys’ reaction to a stray dog stealing their meat suggest about how they’ve changed as a result of their experiences of war?

4. Ishmael says he wishes he’d been reunited with his family earlier even if doing so would have had what result?

5. What is the substance that Ishmael is given and what is its effect?

Chapters 14-17

Reading Check

1. What movies do Ishmael and the boys watch to find battle inspiration?

2. Why is Ishmael nicknamed “Green Snake” by his junior lieutenant?

3. What is the name of the nurse Ishmael meets?

4. What causes Ishmael to be in high spirits for the first time in a long time?

Short-Answer Response

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response. 

1. What provides a short-term solution to Ishmael’s headaches?

2. What does Ishmael mean when he says that “his heart had frozen” (Chapter 15)?

3. How does Ishmael feel when UNICEF workers decide to send him to school?

4. What happens when Ishmael tries to remember a carefree time in his childhood?

Paired Resource

“Ex-child-soldier: ‘Shooting became just like drinking a glass of water’”

• A CNN report in which Ishmael Beah talks about his experience as a child soldier
• How does this perspective add to what we learn from Beah’s memoir?

Chapters 18-21

Reading Check

1. What does Ishmael perform for visitors to the Benin Home?

2. With whom is Ishmael reunited?

3. What had Ishmael not encountered before when he arrives at the office building for his interview to represent Sierra Leone at the U.N.?

Short-Answer Response

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response. 

1. What does Ishmael want to emphasize as a spokesperson about the experience of child soldiers?

2. Where do Allie and Ishmael go that triggers a memory of the war?

3. What gave Ishmael his vision of New York City?