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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
Whenever he found himself losing hope, Salva would take a deep breath and think of his uncle’s words. “A step at a time. One problem at a time. Just figure out this one problem.” Day by day, solving one problem at a time, Salva moved toward his goal.
Audiobook.
Audiobook.
This was a harrowing and inspirational story. I feel like I know very generally of stories like this, but it is good to take the time to read and focus on it every once in a while. It serves as a great reminder, not only that we are so fortunate to live how we do, but that there is so much good to be done in the world.
This book tells two stories: that of a young boy fleeing war torn Sudan, and that of a young girl who walks hours to gather water for her family each day. Both stories are true, and weave together in a beautiful way. It's an easy to read book and a good way to introduce children to the reality of half the world's population who do not have easy access to fresh, clean water.
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
hopeful
informative
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is a small, but incredibly powerful book. It's not long—it would be a great middle-grades read-aloud over the course of a few weeks. It's packed full of so many important topics of discussion that I would say could be (and should be) digested by students as young as 3rd or 4th grade, given an appropriate amount of time for thoughtful discussion.
A Long Walk to Water is based on the true story of Salva Dut, a young boy whose childhood and family life in southern Sudan is completely upended by civil war in the 1980s. He finds himself alone and isolated without anyone he knows in the midst of a great exodus to flee from country to country in search of refuge. His positive attitude and daily determination to survive (and help others do the same) quickly elevates him as a leader and he eventually finds himself leading a group of 1500 lost boys like himself to another refugee camp.
A modern-day side-story of a young girl, Nya, who must walk hours a day to fetch water for her family is also woven throughout the book and both stories are beautifully tied together at the end.
A Long Walk to Water is an excellent introduction to the conflict between North and South Sudan, and it puts so many important things into perspective—how to push forward through hardship, how much we have to be grateful for, how definitions of success and wealth vary around the world, and what it means to truly care for others (to name just a few paradigms it might shift!).
I particularly loved Salva's own encouragement to young readers at the end of the book:
I also love that this book includes information for how teachers might use it to cultivate a meaningful charity program in their school to encourage young readers to rally around the essential idea of what it means to work together as a community to support those in need and make the world a better place.
A Long Walk to Water is based on the true story of Salva Dut, a young boy whose childhood and family life in southern Sudan is completely upended by civil war in the 1980s. He finds himself alone and isolated without anyone he knows in the midst of a great exodus to flee from country to country in search of refuge. His positive attitude and daily determination to survive (and help others do the same) quickly elevates him as a leader and he eventually finds himself leading a group of 1500 lost boys like himself to another refugee camp.
A modern-day side-story of a young girl, Nya, who must walk hours a day to fetch water for her family is also woven throughout the book and both stories are beautifully tied together at the end.
A Long Walk to Water is an excellent introduction to the conflict between North and South Sudan, and it puts so many important things into perspective—how to push forward through hardship, how much we have to be grateful for, how definitions of success and wealth vary around the world, and what it means to truly care for others (to name just a few paradigms it might shift!).
I particularly loved Salva's own encouragement to young readers at the end of the book:
To young people, I would like to say: Stay calm when things are hard or not going right with you. You will get through it when you persevere instead of quitting. Quitting leads to much less happiness in life than perseverance and hope.
I also love that this book includes information for how teachers might use it to cultivate a meaningful charity program in their school to encourage young readers to rally around the essential idea of what it means to work together as a community to support those in need and make the world a better place.
I wish I would have read this myself instead of listening to the audiobook. I really didn't like the style of the readers. Anyway, I believe this is an important book for older elementary or middle school students to read. It's based on the life of Salva, a lost boy from South Sudan. It raises awareness to the refugee crisis in southern Sudan and the issue of lack of water access.
read for english was very well written. good book about more serous topics for younger readers, but you can read at any age and still enjoy.
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced