A long walk to water by Linda Sue Park

In their final term of Year 6 our students study a topic called "Global Connections" and one part of this is our global responsibility as a nation and as individuals to assist others in the developing world.

For this topic I like use the story of Ryan's well, Craig the boy who helps fight against the use of child workers and now I also have this important book A long walk to water.

This is such a slim book with such an important and powerful message of hope, perseverance, dreams and survival. It is vital to read every page of this book including the message from Salva and the author notes at the back.

There is a huge amount of material available to support the reading of this book including chapter questions and audio, the author web site, interviews with Salva and of course a web site about his project to dig wells in the Sudan.

I also found a 60 second book video review which conveys just how powerful this story is. When you talk about this book you might also mention The Hippo Roller project. The dual narrative in A long walk to water tells about the life of Nya and her arduous journey each day to find water for her family.

Salva's story tells us about the war in Sudan and about his journey to Ethiopia and then to Kenya to find refugee camps. Along the way Salva endures unbearable hardship and suffering and yet The long walk to water has a powerful message of hope.