A+Long+WG+Summarizer

Summary of 5-8

Ishmael, Junior, and friends are caught in the middle of a massacre in the village of Mattru Jong by the rebels. They are almost captured and made to fight for the rebels, but they are able to escape. They run from village to village and eventually get separated again, leaving Ishmael wandering on his own. After a while Ishmael meets up with some other old school friends and travels with them.

-Shayla Bryant chapters 1-4 During chapters one thru four the book introduces the main character and the historic events that are currently taking place in the book. In chapter one Ishmael, his brother, and friends are on the way to the town where their school is located. They were going to participate in a talent show in order to show off their rapping skills. On the way they stop at Ishmael and Junior's grandmothers home. They eat and stay the night there. They are very much aware that there is a violent war taking place at this time, but it hasn't yet reached their home villages. When they reached the town they stopped at Ishmael's little brother's school. While there they overhear the teachers talking about how the rebels are coming to Mattru Jong next. Ishmael and Junior also ran into their father and stepmother, who wasn't very fond of them. After this they walked to their mothers home. She was a single woman rasing her youngest child, and she didn't have enough money to send Ishmael and Junior back to school. On the boys way home they ran into the destruction of what the Rebels had left behind. All that could be seen were dead bodies, the injured, and parents and children searching for their loved ones. They witnesses people die in front of them. The Rebels hadn't reached Mattru Jong yet, but they were only 20 miles away. The boys were left to fend for themselves because of the chaos around them.
 * introduction of characters(pg.5-6)
 * Going to Mattru Jong(pg.7)
 * Stopped at grandmothers house(pg.8)
 * left to return home(pg.11-12)