WHO, WHAT & WHERE?
This African nation, which gained independence in 2011, serves as the primary setting for both Nya and Salva's stories.
What is South Sudan?
At eleven years old, this real-life protagonist had to flee his village in 1985 when his school was attacked during the Sudanese Civil War.
Who is Salva Dut?
Everyday, Nya walks two hours each way twice a day to fetch this basic essential for her family.
What is water?
While crossing the Akobo Desert and navigating the Nile River, Salva and the refugees faced constant danger from these dangerous reptiles.
What are crocodiles?
This non-profit organization, founded by Salva in real life, builds wells to bring clean drinking water to villages in South Sudan.
What is Water for South Sudan?
She is the Newbery Medal-winning author who wrote A Long Walk to Water.
Who is Linda Sue Park?
The novel tells two parallel stories: Salva’s journey beginning in 1985 and this young girl’s daily walk in 2008.
Who is Nya?
Salva belongs to this major ethnic group in South Sudan, identified by traditional ritual scar patterns on their foreheads.
What is the Dinka tribe?
After living in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, Salva is selected to resettle in this American city in New York State.
What is Rochester?
During his dangerous journey through the wilderness, Salva is protected and guided by this family member, who carries a gun.
Who is his uncle (Uncle Jewiir)?
To navigate the Nile River during their long escape, Salva's group spends days constructing canoes out of these fast-growing aquatic plants.
What are reeds (or papyrus)?
Nya’s younger sister, Akeer, becomes dangerously ill from drinking contaminated water, caused by this type of parasite.
What is a guinea worm (or cholera / waterborne bacteria)?
After six years, the Ethiopian government forces thousands of refugees out of the Itang camp, driving them across this crocodile-infested river.
What is the Gilo River?
Salva’s Dinka tribe has a long-standing, violent feud with this rival pastoral tribe, to which Nya and her family belong.
What is the Nuer tribe?
While living in Rochester, New York, Salva receives an email informing him that his father is alive and recovering from stomach surgery at a clinic run by this international relief organization.
What is the United Nations
The Atuot people are known as the "people of" this animal because their land is heavily populated by them.
What is the lion?
A man named Buksa leads Salva's group to a major food source by listening for the call of a specific bird.
What is a beehive (or honey)?
After weeks of starvation, Salva and his group gorge themselves on a hunted animal called a topi, causing them to suffer this painful physical reaction all night.
What is vomiting (or getting sick)?
As Salva's group prepares to cross the Nile, fishermen on an island warn them to gather plenty of water to prepare for swarms of these relentless insects.
What are mosquitoes?
Salva’s village in South Sudan is named Loun-Ariik, which was named in honor of this family member.
Who is his grandfather?
During his time at the Ifo refugee camp in Kenya, Salva learns basic English and how to play volleyball from an Irish relief worker named this.
Who is Michael?
When Salva reunites with his father at the UN clinic, he learns that while two of his brothers died in the war, this brother survived and remained in their home village.
Who is Ring?
At the very beginning of the novel, Salva is sitting in his classroom practicing this language, which is the official language taught in Sudanese government schools.
What is Arabic?
When Salva is selected to fly to America as part of the "Lost Boys" resettlement program, he is given a heavy set of clothes to prepare for the cold winter, including this specific piece of outerwear he had never seen before.
What is a winter coat (or jacket)?
While flying to America, Salva is astonished when the flight attendant hands him a cup filled with this cold drink containing clear blocks of frozen water.
What is Coca-Cola (or soda with ice)?