Linda Sue Park's A Long Walk To Water

Linda Sue Park hooked readers with the novel A Long Walk to Water. This book is about the true story of Salva Mawien Dut Ariik, who was a lost boy from the second Sudanese War in the 1980’s. Salva was separated from his village and family when he was 11 years old. Salva had many challenges he needed to get through, and used bravery, persistence, and strength to do so. First, Salva’s bravery is a factor in how he survives some difficult situations, one of them is when Salva was walking through the land of the Atuot, where the path is surrounded by lions. In chapter 6 the author wrote,”Every day they saw lions, usually resting in the shade of small trees.” This quote shows that Salva is brave enough to walk through a field of lion territory. And while he sleeps a small child could be an easy meal. Second, Salva’s persistence is an important factor of how he gets through difficult situations. One place in the text that shows this is after Salva’s Uncle dies. The group he is with begins to doubt his survival. Salva takes this challenge to show the group they are wrong. In chapter 11 Park wrote,”The way they were treating him made Salva feel stronger still. There is no one left to help me. They

One event in the book that shows Salva’s strength is when he leads the group of boys to the refugee camp in Kenya, and would not let them give up. In chapter 13 the author wrote,”There were times when some of the boys did not want to do their share of the work. Salva would talk to them, encourage them, coax and persuade them. Once in awhile he had to speak sternly, or even shout. But he tried not to do this too often. It was as if Salva’s family were helping him, even though they were not there.” This quote shows that Salva added the strength from his past and family to the strength he already had. This helped him guide the group of 1500 boys to Kenya even though he is just one