A song the book reminds me of

The song Eyes Open by Taylor Swift makes me think of Ishmael and the other child soldiers in the book. The song, written for the Hunger Games, is basically talking about the lives of the kid tributes before they were picked for the Hunger Games and then talks about their lives during the Hunger Games. It talks about how their lives change. This song makes me think of Ishmael and the other children because their lives  changed because of the war. Ishmael went from being a happy, music loving kid in his village, to an emotionless, bloodthirsty soldier in the war.

" The tricky thing, is yesterday we were just children
   playing soldiers, just pretending, dreaming dreams with happy endings
   In backyards, winning battles with our wooden swords
   But now we've stepped into a cruel world,
   Where everybody stands and keeps score
   Keep your eyes open..."

This verse out of the song Eyes Open really makes me think of Ishmael and his friends who were forced to become child soldiers because before the war reached them, they had been children playing games such as pretend war games. Ishmael and his friends had been so happy playing games, dancing and singing to rap music. They never thought that they would ever be a part of the war, let a lone be affected by it. Then the war reached them and their lives changed. They lost everything and became child soldiers, now part of a cruel world. They are now part of a world (war world) that does not care that they are children and that does not care if they die or not. This verse specifically reminds me of when Ishmael, his brother and friends were preparing their singing and dancing act for a talent show in Mattru Jong, when they were suddenyl forced to go on the run from the rebels. Also, the last line in this verse, "Keep your eyes open", makes me think of how Ishmael has to keep his eyes open for danger all the time and constantly has to watch his back when he is on the run and when he is a child soldier to make sure he does not get killed.

 " and nobody comes to save you now" 

This line makes me think about how no one comes to save Ishmael for about two years when he was a child soldier. This line makes me think of when the government army told Ishmael and all the boys and men in the village in Yele, that they had to become soldiers, and if they did not, they would be forced to leave the village and the rebels would kill them as soon as they were not in the village. At that moment, I was wishing that someone would step in and save Ishamel and the other boys from becoming soldiers. The government army, who was supposed to be protecting civilians, did nothing to help Ishmael. All the government army did was throw him into the war where he could have been killed, instead of protecting him. The army forced him to be a soldier. There was nothing Ishmael could do to prevent himself from becoming a child soldier. He fought in the war for about two years until UNICEF finally rescues him.