Reading Response #1, 9/11/12

Molly Ellrodt
809

Reading Response #1

       During the summer I read a book by Linda Sue Park called, A Long Walk to Water. I found this book both fascinating and sad. The book is told from two points of views in two different decades. One is from a 12 year old boy, Salva,  trying to survive during the years 1985-1996 in Sudan, a country in Africa being ravaged by a civil war. The other point of view is from girl around 12 years old, Nya,  living also in Sudan in 2008-2009 trying to survive with the little resources her family is provided with. Its amazing, the things people in certain countries have to go through everyday just to survive in comparison to what most people I know have to do on an everyday basis. 

       For example, in these two stories both main characters have to act like adults to just barely make it through each and every day. Salva must travel miles and miles in extreme weather conditions, with complete strangers, to a place that might be extremely dangerous for all they know. Salva has lost what he knows as his family and when he finds his uncle, he is later killed right in front of Salvas eyes. Salva must find his own food and own water. Nya must walk miles everyday to the nearest freshwater source then fill up her plastic container with water and carry it miles back to her family to then do it again. She also must spend her days helping with her baby sister. Their lives are not at all easy! They don't have any time to relax. 

       Teenagers I know go to bed at 12:00 am-2:00 am and wake up, if they can, at 11:00 the next morning. Salva and Nya most likely wake up when the sun rises to start their full day of hard work! The things Salva and Nya complain about, if anything, is that they don't have clean water or enough food to be satisfied. Most teenagers I know complain that their parents won't let them watch TV or hang out with their friends because they have homework! I have to admit, even I complain about that stuff sometimes while Salva and Nya's whole day is homework! I notice now that we take so many things for granted today that Salva and Nya never had. 

        It's hard to act like an adult and take on the responsibilities an adult has at a young age. It takes courage and dedication, and that's exactly how Slava and Nya survived. They fought hard. This book made me realize that I have a really nice life. The things that I don't have and want are nothing compared to what Salva and Nya didn't have. It's nice to be able to enjoy life and not live in fear that you might not be alive the next day. Though Nya ended up getting a large supply of water from a fund and Salva moved to Rochester New York to live with a nice family, it wasn't handed to them. They had to earn it. All in all, this book really opened up my eyes and see what it's like to not have what you need  to survive and I recommend this book to everyone.