Summary of the Book: Part 5

Ishmael is relocated to a separate rehabilitation center, where he suffers withdrawal from the drugs and violence that have become his addictions. A nurse's compassion helps him let go of these demons. Over and over she tells him, "it's not your fault. It's not your fault." As a gift, the nurse, Esther, brings Ishmael a Walkman and a tape of Bob Marley, reigniting his passion for music and performance, which further reconnects the boy to his lost childhood. Ishmael makes great progress. He begins writing music again, and puts on shows for the rest of the boys at the center. The program locates Ishmael's uncle, and finally, after many months, the staff allows him to leave the center to join his uncle's family. The rehabilitation center nominates him for a special United Nations project to bring two Sierra Leonean children to the United States to speak about the war under the aegis of Children Associated with War (CAW) in order to raise awareness about the plight of child soldiers. It is snowing when Ishmael lands in New York. He's only known "the word ‘winter' from Shakespeare's texts," and the only snow he's seen has been in Christmas movies he watched back in Sierra Leone. He thinks to himself, "It must be Christmas here every day." At the United Nations First International Children's Parliament, Ishmael meets Laura Simms, a facilitator who is a professional storyteller. Ishmael is impressed that this white woman from New York City knows many of the stories told by his people. "When she became my mother years later," he says, "she and I would always talk about whether it was destined or coincidental that I came from a very storytelling-oriented culture to live with a mother in New York who is a storyteller."