Reading Response--A Long Walk to Water By Linda Sue Parks

         In the book: A Long Walk to Water, by Linda Sue parks, the two main characters are both shown in different point of views at two different time periods. The true story of Salva Dut, a boy from Sudan ( a runaway from Sudan) and a fictional story of Nya, a girl that lives in a village in Sudan. 

         The main idea, or theme in Salva's point of view is that you just have to keep moving forward and it will get better. For example, when Salva ran away from home because of the war in Sudan, he finally made a friend. A few weeks later when they were sleeping in the wilderness on their way to Ethiopia (a fugitive camp), his friend was killed by a lion. Also, when Salva also reunited with his uncle, his uncle was shot right in front of him. And even though a lot of the people that Salva cared about were getting killed, Salva kept moving forward, and eventually it got better when he made it to the camp and he was chosen out of hundreds to go to America.

         The theme in Nya's point of view is that you should be grateful for the things that you have. Throughout her point of view, Nya had to walk all day, for hours, just so she could get only one jug of water from the river. And the water wasn't clean. Salva, now over 20 years later comes back to Sudan and makes a water foundation (A well that gives Nya and her village fresh clean water). Nya was so grateful and this shows that we shouldn't take what we have for granted  because even though its not a big deal to us, its a big deal to other people. Something that seems so small to us and not a big deal can be a very big deal to someone else. '

         Overall, the themes in the book are that we should keep moving forward and that we should never take things for granted.