After the Newbery Award winning A Single Shard, Linda Sue Park has been one of my favorite YA authors.
A Long Walk to Water was a Newbery Honor book for 2011. It is based on the real life of Salva Dut, a Lost Boy of Sudan who was driven away from his home by civil war in 1985 and spent more than a decade walking across Africa and in refugee camps before he found a home in America. Not content to rest on his eventual good fortunes, Salva now spends his time on a project to help the people of Southern Sudan have clean drinking water. Check out his foundation: Water for Sudan.
Salva's story is woven with the story of a young girl living in Southern Sudan who must walk half a day for one trip to and from a pond to bring back water for her family. Water that is dirty and often makes them sick. This helps the reader to understand the importance of Salva's work to help his country and its people.
A Long Walk to Water is a short, simple, and moving tale that for just a moment helps you to appreciate what you have. Simple things like being able to turn on the tap and have an abundance of clean water.
I'll have to put this one on my TBR list.
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