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This quote was in chapter 5 of "Reading in the Wild".
"Sometimes, you read a book so special that you want to carry it around for months after you've finished just to stay near it." - Markus Zusak, The book Theif

I felt like this quote describes how I felt about this book. I have already recommended it to several co-workers. One coworker and I were discussing how much our society has become in need of material things. I thought of this book and how Salva lived with barely anything for so many years. Also, Nya who had to go fetch water daily. We are truly spoiled and this book would be an eye opener for some.

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I discovered the "Power of 3" we talked about in class.  On pages 42-43 it says, "Salva lowered his head.  He knew that Uncle was teasing, but he felt so tired-tired of worrying about his family, tired of thinking about poor Marial, tired of walking and not knowing where they were going."  

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I discovered the "Power of 3" we talked about in class.  On pages 42-43 it says, "Salva lowered his head.  He knew that Uncle was teasing, but he felt so tired-tired of worrying about his family, tired of thinking about poor Marial, tired of walking and not knowing where they were going."  

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Amy J.

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Maria,
I would agree that perseverance and determination was a major theme.  From page 81, "Most of all, he remembered how Uncle encouraged him in the desert.  One step at a time...one day at a time.  Just today-just this day to get through..." Through the book, Salva changes from a terrified little boy to a young man who ends up leading hundreds of boys to Kenya.  He encouraged them the way that Uncle had encouraged him.  He did not judge or mistreat them the way others had done to him.  He was courageous and chose to do right by others.  He does this again later in his life when he drills wells for the Nuer, his tribe's enemies.  His story is incredibly inspiring and is a reminder that one person can change someone's entire world and that we are all connected to each other in some way.

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I definitely agree that a major theme is perseverance.  I couldn't imagine truly being in the place of either of them.  Thinking about Salva, he first thought that he had lost his whole entire family, then lost his friend he had made along the journey, then lost his uncle.  After all that he still managed to do something great in the end by helping to build wells.  At the same time, I couldn't imagine having to spend basically all day every day just walking to get water either like Nya either.

I hadn't thought about the brown for Nya's sections reflecting the dirty water.  What a great thought.  Definitely true as well that her story didn't have as much detail, as her days were all the same which would explain why her entries were much shorter.

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Whitney, I agree that this book took some getting used to before you could really get into it. The writing style is very different and it took me a while to grasp it. But the ending of the story was totally worth it! I'm usually pretty good at guessing the ending and I was totally surprised by this ending

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I would probably choose to walk  with Nya's shoes over Salva's. I couldn't imagine being separated from my entire family in a matter of minutes and having to walk thousands of miles just to live with a bunch of strangers. While I don't think I would also enjoy walking all day to get water, I would choose  that over Salva's situation.

For the differences in the text, I would agree that Nya's entry's were brown from the muddy water and short because her days were so monotonous. Salva's entry's were much longer because of all the eventful things that occurred during the time frame of his life that he focused on. They might have also been longer because Salva's stories took place over a longer period of time.

The quotes of Salva's thoughts showed how Salva grew stronger and more independent through the story. Salva starts out by missing his family desperately to the point that he can almost not move on and by the end of the story, he was pushing other to keep walking and was a leader.

I think perseverance is a major theme in this book. Both Salva and Nya were but in difficult situations but they both made the best of what they had.

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07:34 Amy: 4. I think the best theme for this book is overcoming hardship. Both Salva and Nya experienced some degree of hardship. They both in the end made it through their hardship. This book can really help students see that their situation is not so bad and they can overcome whatever they are facing.
The quotes from Salva's thoughts help the reader get a deeper feeling of what Salva is feeling. These questions are a great way for young readers to think about Salva's situation and try and connect with the text.
07:19 Amy: 1. I would choose Nya because it seems like there is more peace and problem solving during her time. Salva went through a lot of struggle to get where he needs to be. I honestly do not think I would have been able to survive all those years of walking and moving. It was a miracle that he survived the desert. It was even more of a miracle that he survived swimming through that river of alligators and didn't get shot.

07:23 Amy: 2. I was very confused when I started to read this book. It took me a couple chapters to get into it. I kept thinking why are there two different stories happening. Once I did get a few chapters in, I could not stop reading. I read the whole book in one night. I became very shocked at the end when the book circled around to the reason the two stories were in the book. It was a very creative way for the author to get you to really think about both their stories. I honestly just put the book down and sat there for a moment in shock at the end. I never throughout the whole book, even when they were digging for water in Nya's village, thought that the stories were connected.

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19:14 Trina: I enjoyed this book. It is not one that I would choose on my own. We were discussing perseverance and I used many examples from this book.

19:16 Trina: I would definitely chose to walk in Nya's foot prints. I am not sure I could have survived like Salva did. I think I would have been fine until the lion dragged off my only friend.

19:17 Trina: This was an inspiring story and I am glad the author included what Salva is doing now

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21:39 Susan: If I had to choose, I'd choose Nya's footprints to walk in. I don't think I could have walked in Salva's shoes. All those years walking around hoping...when you didn't know what to hope for is terrifying. I am in awe of his determination and survival skills. Nya on the other hand walked each day to fetch water for her family. Although she struggled, her path was not nearly as rough or scary as Salva's. I would have rather walked in her footprints than Salvas.

21:43 Susan: I think the different fonts and the length of each entry was purposeful. I felt like Nya's were short because she did the same thing ever day: fetch water. She spent all her time fetching water, there wasn't much in her entries. I also think the words may have been brown to mimic the dirty, muddy water.

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22:21 Amy: I would choose to walk in Salva's footprints because he was so tough and determined. He truly inspired me. I, too, read the entire book in one sitting. I wondered why both stories were going on and was surprised at the ending! I felt like I wanted to meet him in person. I immediately called my mom to recommend this book to her.

22:23 Amy: The main themes that resonated with me were to never, ever give up and to give back to those who have given you so much!

22:25 Amy: One of my favorite parts was when Salva found his dad and visited him. It was emotional for me.

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20:02 Whitney: The other two books that we have read so far I really haven't had a tough time getting into. When I began reading this text, I was intrigued and wanted to find out whether Salva would find his family, but I found it difficult to want to continue reading maybe because of the longer descriptive passages. One of the questions posed was whose "shoes" we would rather walk in. That's a really tough question. I'm thinking maybe I would say Nya only because she still had her family around. It definitely would be a rough life to have to walk eight hours every day, though, just to get drinking water that's not even clean.

20:03 Whitney: I'm also curious to see if anyone has any ideas between the difference in Font style between the two characters. I had noticed that they were different, but I didn't really consider what significance that might have