Book Review of 'A Long Walk to Water' by Linda Sue Park

Premise:

A Long Walk to Water begins as two stories, told in alternating sections, about a girl in Sudan in 2008 and a boy in Sudan in 1985. The girl, Nya, is fetching water from a pond that is two hours’ walk from her home: she makes two trips to the pond every day. The boy, Salva, becomes one of the "lost boys" of Sudan, refugees who cover the African continent on foot as they search for their families and for a safe place to stay. Enduring every hardship from loneliness to attack by armed rebels to contact with killer lions and crocodiles, Salva is a survivor, and his story goes on to intersect with Nya’s in an astonishing and moving way.



Poignant and Compelling

This inspiring story will be hard to put down. A Long Walk to Water comprises two separate narratives from two people at two different periods of time. One is from a boy named Salva during the second Sudanese Civil War in 1985, and another from a girl named Nya which takes place in Sudan as well, but begins in 2008. This book is based on the true story of Salva Dut. And while Nya is fictional, she represents the current day life of villagers in South Sudan. In the book, Salva is at school when his village is attacked. He runs into the forest, and ever since that day, he becomes a refugee like hundreds of others. Conversely, Nya is a girl walking each day to get the water her family needs which she carries home in plastic gallon jugs. The trip takes her all day, and the trips could be dangerous for her. The two narratives come together in an inspiring ending. 

My favorite part of the book was the end, where you find out how these two different stories are connected, although I had already figured it out about half way through. This book is intended for grades 6-8 and is character-driven. The chapters are 8-10 pages long. A quote that stood out in this book is “One step at a time, one day at a time, just today, just this day to get through.” This was when Salva was traveling to refugee camps in Kenya. When Salva had been traveling through a desert, and was too exhausted to go on, his uncle encouraged him this way, by telling Salva to take one step at a time, to just get through the day. Salva kept this in mind while traveling. On a scale of one through five, I would rate it 4 stars.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

- Candria

Get a copy of this book at https://amzn.to/2Um6yPn

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