This week I'm waiting on...
A Long Walk To Water: Based on a True Story by Linda Sue ParkRelease Date: November 15, 2010
A Long Walk to Water begins as two stories, told in alternating sections, about a girl in Sudan in 2008 and a boy in Sudan in 1985. The girl, Nya, is fetching water from a pond that is two hours’ walk from her home: she makes two trips to the pond every day. The boy, Salva, becomes one of the "lost boys" of Sudan, refugees who cover the African continent on foot as they search for their families and for a safe place to stay. Enduring every hardship from loneliness to attack by armed rebels to contact with killer lions and crocodiles, Salva is a survivor, and his story goes on to intersect with Nya’s in an astonishing and moving way.
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I have yet to read anything by Linda Sue Park. Which makes me feel terrible, since she is a Newbery award winning author who writes multicultural fiction. I have yet to read a novel set in Sudan but last year I read a book about the genocide in Darfur (Not On Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond by Don Cheadle and John Prendergast). I'm curious to see if the genocide will be brought up in this middle grade novel.
I have yet to read anything by Linda Sue Park. Which makes me feel terrible, since she is a Newbery award winning author who writes multicultural fiction. I have yet to read a novel set in Sudan but last year I read a book about the genocide in Darfur (Not On Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond by Don Cheadle and John Prendergast). I'm curious to see if the genocide will be brought up in this middle grade novel.
Don't forget to join in the Book Blogger Appreciation Week festivities! I have a few new treasures I want to share, but I already had a review scheduled for the day assigned to sharing about awesome new blogs. So I'm going to catch up on any features I missed out on, in my post on Friday.
What new release (s) are you waiting on? Any PoC releases?
I am waiting on Tools of Ignorance by Barbara Clanton and Behomoth by Scott Westerfeld. No PoC releases--but now I am waiting for A Long Walk To Water! : )
ReplyDeleteNora
Hi! I love your blog. As a former high school English teacher, I am all too aware of the lack of POC books. I wish your blog had been around when I was in the classroom six years ago. Your reviews would have helped immensely.
ReplyDeleteI am writing to recommend a couple of books I was fortunate enough to read. Like Sister on the Homefront and I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This. Book are by African American authors, the first more YA, the second more Middle Years. The first was so compelling to me because it was the very first contemporary book that I had read from an African American author with an African American main character. I had read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, which is excellent, but is not contemporary. This book will always stick with me because it opened my eyes to a genre I never knew existed and I'm biracial. The second book was appealing because it deals with a reverse racism. Anyways, I hope you might get to read these one day. Take care and keep up the good work!
Robyn
I recently read an autobiography by one of the Lost Boys 'The Long Road Home' and it was just harrowing. The similarity between the titles strikes me.
ReplyDeleteI'm not waiting on anything but just got a whole pile of UK POC (adult) novels today--will tell you more soon. I have two by Diana Evans whom we spoke of--she has a new book just out about dance (she is a former dancer) and I can't wait to get into that. Also just started 'Some Kind of Black' which is from the mid-90's so I am making progress from the 70s to the present, bit by bit. And I just finished 'The Ice Cream Girls'. More to share soon :-)
Oops. Was having a Senior Moment there. The book about the Lost Boys was 'War Child' -- I got it mixed up with another book that I read around the same time: Ishmael Beah's account of war in Sierra Leone, which is not called 'The Long Road Home' but 'A Long Way Gone'. So forget what I said about similar titles; I was confused. Sorry about that.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious how the two stories in 'A Long Walk to Water' will intersect.
I really enjoy your blog--you bring fascinating books and authors to my attention. Now you've got me interested in Linda Sue Park, and since the one you wrote about isn't out yet, I just ordered "A Single Shard," which sounds great!
ReplyDeleteI am a huge fan of Linda Sue Park (Kite Fighters, Single Shard, Seesaw Girl) but I had no idea that she wrote this moving book. Thanks for the post. I will check it out. It's an interesting segue for her; she normally writes about 15th century Korea (the Golden Age of Korea).
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