A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story

A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story

By Linda Sue Park

67 ratings 91 reviews 104 followers
Interest LevelReading LevelReading A-ZATOSWord Count
Grades 6 - 8Grades 3 - 8W521221

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.

Publisher: Sandpiper
Published on 12/22/2014
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 40

Book Reviews (92)

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Linda Sue Park Long Walk to Water based on a true story publish weekly started review this story is a very ,beautiful story and I hope you all can get to know it better and hopefully your office and where I feel about this book if not we all have our own opinions. Okay so imagine dragons gold and the system went out to look for water and out of nowhere you hear about a shooting and invite us to get down and you hear gunshots and stuff and you know it's a drill and you have to go and hide behind pushing stuff to keep from getting caught and killed .and your family was separated while all that's happened your sister still out looking for water hoping to come back to a nice plate of food and some water and on the way you meet your uncle you haven't seen for about a while and come to realize that he's in the military and y'all get together y'all run by the opposite hide and he gets eaten by a tiger how would you feel this is based on a true story and lets us know what's happening to other .people in their lives and help us know how we should react and to see if we can relate to their story if you read this story I hope you enjoyed it.

One thing I learned was that people in Sudan don't have very clean water. The second thing was that Salva really tries to help everyone he can. The third thing is that Salva helped his people and many more so they could have a better life. I would give this 5 stars because the book is funny, sad, and really teaches a lesson to everyone who's willing to learn it.

I'm reading at school in ELA class and we just finished it. SO GOOD! (And scary. [Yikes])

This book seems interesting.

I like this book but if i have to be honest i wouldn't read it again, I think this books shows just how much some people like Salva have to walk so far get to water and people like most of us who can get water by just walking to a kitchen or water fountain. The reason I gave it 3 stars is because it really teaches us the meaning of hard work and appreciation, but (i could be that my english sucks) the ending didn't make much sense. I do recommend people read it, I think this book would be best for middle school students though.

Visualise yourself in school, when fighter jets start attacking your village. You’re forced to leave into the bush, to escape all the mayhem. You spend years running away from the fighting, and trying to survive. The book “A Long Walk to Water” by Linda Sue Parker is a great representation of this. A boy named Salva Dut is in school, when his village falls under attack. He rushes into the deserts of Africa to stay away from the fighting. After a couple years of walking, he finds a refugee camp in Kenya, Africa. There is a 6 year time skip, when the Kenya camp is forced to shut down. Salva and a group of people leave back into the deserts of Africa once again. While crossing the Nile river, many of the group die by the mouths of alligators. Salva soon becomes the leader of the group, which is now known as “The Lost Boys”. The lost boys soon come across another refugee camp. Salva meets a man who helps teach him to read and write in English. A rumor starts to spread, about the leaders of the camp bringing people to America, Salva is one of them. He gets on a plane that brings him to NYC, to meet his new family. Salva goes to college, and lives like he’s been there his whole life, until he gets an email. This email said that there’s a chance Salva’s real father is still alive. Salva flies to South Sudan, and visits the hospital his father is currently in. He learns his father got sick due to waterborne diseases. When Salva returns to NYC, he starts his non-profit organization, which is now known as “Water for South Sudan”. Want to know what happens next? Then I’d definitely start reading this book; it’s full of adventure and drama; so if you like that type of story, this book is perfect for you. I’d recommend this book for grades 5+.

Megan McGann Megan McGann

I love this book and this really helped me with my book report. Thanks!😃👍🏼

oataris oataris

"keep walking. One foot at a time. Left, right, left, right. Just survive to Ethiopia."​ This book is the real storie and the struggles of the life of Salva, and his journeys across the world as one of the Lost Boys.​ This book, written by Linda Sue Park -the author of many books, one of which has gotten her the Newberry Medal, and A Long Walk To Water earning her the New York Times Bestseller title.​ Although the book has 18 chapters it is a pretty quick and easy read, with a age range veered more towards grade 5/6+. I say this because although there are some gruesome events many others are glossed over, such as the starvation and thirst while on and throughout the walk of the Lost Boys .  As discussed many gruesome events happened that were not incorperated into the book, but it was still full of action and despair. the book follows the real life of Salva and the made up storie of Nya- who could be a real person.... I would recommend this book because I really enjoyed it and it is a very inspiring storie that also has a tedtalk to go with it if you would rather listen than read.

I Gave it four stars because I really enjoyed a lot of various parts of the book even though it was a different kind of story then I am used to me still enjoyed it a lot. I really liked the character progression and the different elements of how the story went from one end of the pool strait to the other in a matter of a couple chapters. It was truly I book that wanted me to read more after reading a chapter, but I followed regimen and kept to only reading 1 – 2 chapters which made It last longer, but it was worth it. Overall, I really enjoyed the book it is like nothing I have ever read before but even because of that it still was excellent.

Determined survivors will survive. This story has two main characters, Nya and Salva who are determined to survive.

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