A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

This story was so...inspiring. It's about this boy, named Salva. It's set in Sudan, during 1985. Salva is part of the Dinka tribe. One day, he was attending the school that he goes to, when all of a sudden, he hears guns and fighting. The teacher says to run away from the village, so Salva runs away. He meets this old woman and stays with her for five days. However, she leaves and Salva finds a group running away from the war as well, so he joins them. He finds his uncle, who is basically the leader of the group. He finds a friend, named Marial, though he is killed by lions. The group is heading to Ethiopia, and they cross the desert and a river to reach it. When they almost reach their destination, Salva's uncle is killed by a couple of smugglers. Salva is neglected by the group, but then he sees them no more when they reach the Ethiopian camp. He stays there for six years, until the camps are closed down. Soldiers attack them while they cross the river, and the river is harsh because the current is high and is swarmed by crocodiles. But, Salva survives and makes it to the refugee camp in Kenya. Before reaching the camp though, he leads a group of people to the camp, and it takes a year and a half to reach it. Staying there was harsh; there was barely any food, and diseases were being spread around the camp. He meets Michael, and aid worker from Ireland. Michael teaches Salva a bit how to read and play volleyball. He stays there for five years, until he is chosen to go to America. He rides the airplane, and lands in Rochester, New York. Chris and Louis Moore and their children welcome into the family, and help him to learn English and more. This goes on until he receives an email from his cousin saying that his father is in Sudan having a stomach surgery due to the bad water in his body. It takes time, but Salva goes to Sudan and finds his father. It was a happy reunion, but Salva has to leave back to America. After his trip, Salva has an idea that he wants to do. It takes a lot of effort and time, but soon, he is able to do it. You learn in the orange text in the book, that his project that he worked so hard on was to make wells for the village people. It says he helped out the Nuer tribe drink fresh, clear water.

At the end, Salva has a message and it says "Stay calm when things are hard not going right with you. You will get through it when you persevere instead of quitting. Quitting leads to much less happiness in life than perseverance and hope."