A review by emily_m_green
A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

adventurous emotional inspiring sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park is a short novel that combines the narratives of two children from South Sudan. Nya’s storyline takes place in 2008 and focuses on her eight-hour daily journey to collect water for her family. She sets out in the morning carrying a large jug, and ventures through the heat and thorn covered ground. The second storyline belongs to Salva, based on the true experiences of a man who, when he was eleven years old, was forced from his village when gunfire erupted near his school building. Salva traveled on foot, without his family, first to a refugee camp in Ethiopia, and then, after he was driven out from there, continued on to another refugee camp in Kenya. 

The book really belongs to Salva. Nya’s sections are shorter and less developed. We learn about Salva’s losses and tragedies, the violence that he encounters over and over again, as well as the danger and sadness that is multiplied because he is traveling without his family. 

Would I teach this book? I am currently teaching A Long Walk to Water, and it is a widely taught book in middle schools. Among the topics the book discusses is water scarcity, war, and perseverance. Students have a wide range of responses, including several of mine that found it too upsetting to read. 

My students' reaction to the violence was a bit surprising to me, probably because I make assumptions about the movies they’ve seen and the news footage to which they’ve been exposed. As part of the unit, we watched a short PBS video which another teacher at my school shared with me. Lost Boys of Sudan, features interviews with two young men who were brought to America after living in refugee camps for years. The documentary includes images of South Sudanese refugees, including some pictures of emaciated children. I think that while children are exposed to a lot on their screens, they do not sit around the family TV and watch the six o’clock news, which is real, unlike most of the content they consume on their own. Most people do not watch the local news the way that they used to. 

The impact of the book and the video hints at a larger discussion about children and the media they take in, as well as the news content  to which they are exposed. I do not have it all figured out, but I do believe that at some point, people need to know what is going on in the larger world and be aware of both the atrocities and the wonderful things that are happening. I do not, however, have a magic age when children need to understand the terrors of war. 

Admittedly, I did not enjoy reading the book so much, and felt that it was too short in some places and too long in others to do Salva’s (or Nya’s) stories justice. My students, however, were not bored by the book and were excited to discuss it as they were reading. Any time they are excited to discuss the reading is a win.