Linda Sue Park won the Newberry Award for A Single Shard, a great book for younger ones, and she is ethnically Korean so my husband and sons have some interest in what she writes. I was more than surprised to see she had written a short book about one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. What a great read! She tells a story that seems close to hopeless, but in the end you realize it was filled with hope all the way through.
The story is told in first-person narrative by two different characters AND the story takes place during two different periods of time in Sudan. The two stories flip back and forth with each chapter. Never did I find the two stories confusing or difficult to keep up with.
SALVA is a Sudan boy who, when gunfire breaks out while he's at school, is forced to go on the run due to the civil war - leaving his family behind. The story focuses on the heart wrenching details of his journey.
Nya is a young girl whose story takes place several years after that of Salva. Also a child living in Sudan, Nya's job is to make a very long, daily (sometimes more than once) journey to fetch water for their family.
All the time I was reading, I knew that at some point Salva and Nya's lives and/or story would intersect. And, in the end, it did! But it wasn't until the very end was I able to figure out how their life story would intersect.
Although the challenges these two characters face will pull at your heart strings, the author has put in just enough detail without being too graphic for young readers.
This is a beautiful story that definitely deserves its place on my classroom bookshelf. I cannot wait to share it with all my students as an inspirational story for bonus projects. And, I'm anxious to see what else this author has written!
The story is told in first-person narrative by two different characters AND the story takes place during two different periods of time in Sudan. The two stories flip back and forth with each chapter. Never did I find the two stories confusing or difficult to keep up with.
SALVA is a Sudan boy who, when gunfire breaks out while he's at school, is forced to go on the run due to the civil war - leaving his family behind. The story focuses on the heart wrenching details of his journey.
Nya is a young girl whose story takes place several years after that of Salva. Also a child living in Sudan, Nya's job is to make a very long, daily (sometimes more than once) journey to fetch water for their family.
All the time I was reading, I knew that at some point Salva and Nya's lives and/or story would intersect. And, in the end, it did! But it wasn't until the very end was I able to figure out how their life story would intersect.
Although the challenges these two characters face will pull at your heart strings, the author has put in just enough detail without being too graphic for young readers.
This is a beautiful story that definitely deserves its place on my classroom bookshelf. I cannot wait to share it with all my students as an inspirational story for bonus projects. And, I'm anxious to see what else this author has written!
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