“A Long Way Gone” – Independent Reading
For your next novel, you will independently read “A Long Way Gone.” Over the course of the next month, you
will complete a series on independent assignments while participating in class activities and quizzes. Weekly
assignments will be handed out on Monday (after week 1) and will be due on Thursday. Quizzes may be given
on Thursday as well.
You will be given a homework grade for your completed assignments and participation grade based on the 21st
Century Rubric. At the end of the novel, I will collect all of the assignments and give you a test grade. In
addition, you will have a final project and you will be responsible for giving a short presentation to the class.
Week 1 - pages 5-29
Assignments –
1. Complete the graphic organizer on the back of this sheet for the first 29 pages of the novel.
2. Find 10 vocabulary words – define the word and write the page number where you found the word.
(Suggestions – RUF, Mattru Jong. Kamator, Freetown, Blood Diamond)
3. Answer the following questions.
New York City, 1998
· The book opens in an American high school with the students saying it is “cool” that Beah saw “people
running around with guns and shooting each other.” Why does Beah include this picture for the
readers? What about American culture leads these students to think of that violence as “cool”?
Chapter One
· Why doesn’t Beah relate to the refugees who pass through? Why don’t the townspeople believe them
when they warn that the war will come to Mogbwemo?
· Why do the boys decide not to return to Mogbwemo after going back to Beah’s grandmother’s village of
Kabati?
Chapter Two
· How is the Ishmael in Chapter Two different than the boy in Chapter One? Be specific.
Chapter Three
· What is life like in Mattru Jong for Ishmael, his brother, and his friends before the rebels come?
· Why would it have been especially bad for Ishmael and the other young boys to be caught? What would
have happened to them?
Chapter Four
· Ishmael and the boys steal food at the end of the chapter. Would they have thought to do something like
that before the rebels arrived? Why or why not?
Graphic Organizer - pages 5-29
Summary – Write a
brief summary.
Characters – List
the protagonist,
some details about
him, and a few other
characters.
Point of View –
What is the point of
view of the story?
Conflicts – Describe
the types and/or
kinds of conflicts.
Symbols – List any
symbols and their
inferred meaning.
Predictions – Make
three predictions,
based on the events
from this reading,
about things that you
think will happen in
the story.