Featuring two stories taking place in Sudan, Long Walk to Water offers a glimpse into the life of Nya in the year 2008, who walks eight hours a day to fetch water and Salva, who is running across the country in search of safety and his family during a time of war in 1985. The dialogue alternates between stories throughout the entire book. Nya’s story is found in bronze-colored text while Salva’s story is in black. The back of the book includes a message from Salva in 2010. Although some details of the book have been fictionized, it was based on true events, mainly by Salva’s personal experiences. This book was written in hope to shed light on the water problem of Sudan and South Sudan, and to help raise awareness about the effort and importance of drilling new wells in areas where water is scarce.
The New York Times bestseller A Long Walk to Water begins as two stories, told in alternating sections, about two eleven-year-olds in Sudan, a girl in 2008 and a boy 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.
One of our teachers requested it for their class.
We use this book in our school for our Middle Schoolers!
African Unit Study
Required for Simply Charlotte Mason's Modern Times history curriculum