LitPick Review
In A Long Walk To Water By: Linda Sue Park, Salva is a young boy when he is forced to walk from his home in Southern Sudan all the way to Ethiopia then to Kenya. As a result of a raging civil war, Salva finds himself in the midst of many dangers as he tries to find his family and safety. Facing many fears, Salva is alone, still clinging to the hope that his family is still alive. Salve isnt the only character in the book that suffers great hardship. Nya lives in a small village in Southern Sudan. She has to walk all day to get to a lake for water most of the year. The other part of the year she has to wait for hours at the dry riverbed for little amounts of dirty water. She faces the prospect of walking all her life for something we take for granted. Will Salva live and find his family at last? Will Nya walk forever just to get water?
Opinion:
I loved this touching book. In the beginning, I found it hard to really get into Salvas character and feel compassion for him. This is because he is under gunfire from the start. A little more back-story would have helped a lot. Other than that, this was an outstanding book. Overall, I think Salvas amazing story was astoundingly well written. The mood of the book matches Salva's feelings of hopelessness and excitement throughout the story. I could also relate to Nya and her heartwarming story. I think the message is profound, no matter what you are going through you always have the strength inside to rise to the occasion. I recommend this book to children 9 years of age and up. This is also a great book for people who liked Three Cups of Tea and for lovers of historic and historical fiction books. I would give this book a perfect 10 out of 10.
