Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What is a civil war? Can you think of any other civil wars besides the one in the United States?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may be familiar with the American Civil War but may not have learned about other civil wars in world history, especially more recent conflicts like the one seen in Sierra Leone and around which this memoir takes place.

• The Imperial War Museums website includes a list of 20th and 21st century wars.
• BlackPast.org offers a short introduction to the Sierra Leone Civil War.

2.   What is a memoir? What other memoirs are your familiar with?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may not know the difference between a memoir and an autobiography, so this provides an opportunity to introduce them to the genre. Additionally, the prompt can get them thinking about different stylistic and storytelling choices that authors make.

• BookRiot has a useful article explaining the difference between memoirs and autobiographies.
• The New York Times has compiled a list of 50 famous memoirs.