Son of a Gun

I received an early reviewers copy of “Son of a Gun”. It is a powerful book that I truly enjoyed.  One of the things that makes this book both horrific and interesting is that the story is told from the viewpoint of a child.  The horrors that a young brother and sister have to endure during the Liberian Civil War are appalling.  Not only that, but once they escape the war they still have to endure more evil. 

This is a true story and is written for young adult readers.  I am a middle school language arts teacher and truly believe that any book that gets a student to read is a good book, however, I believe that some people would take exception with children reading this book.  Some scenes that are depicted both during and after the war are both unsettling and graphic.   I would recommend this book for a 13 and up audience.  Young readers will find the book to be interesting and easy to relate to, since the narrator is their age.  The size of the book is not intimidating to readers and I do expect that many students will want to check this book out of my personal classroom library.  Also, this book may help some young readers to realize just how fortunate they are.  The word choice of the author and sentence complexity is appropriate for the audience. I enjoyed the book and found it was an easy read for an adult, but still informative and interesting.