A Thirst for Home: A Story of Water across the World
A Thirst for Home: A Story of Water across the World is my pick for today’s Perfect Picture Book Friday review.
Every April, the school my kids attended, The Summit Country Day School, hosts Hands Across the Water, a service project that educates students about global water crises. This event supports a mission of the order that founded the school, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur (SNDdeN) Clean Water Fund. This story highlights an important struggle across the developing world – the limited availability of clean, safe, drinking water resulting in thousands of deaths each year.
Brief Synopsis: In what must be the most unselfish act of love, an Ethiopian mother gives up her daughter Alemitu for adoption because she can no longer feed her. Alemitu, which means you are the world, is renamed Eva, which means life, after joining her new family in the United States.
Opening pages: “When I was Alemitu (ah-le-mee-too), my name meant world. I lived with my emaye, or mama, in a small village in Ehiopia. The sun was always smiling down on me and whispered my name with its hot, sticky breath.”
Why I like this book: This story is about Eva, the adopted daughter of the author. From visits with Eva’s birth mother, the author experienced the plight of finding clean water. Thousands of children die each day from drinking unsafe water. This book brings attention to this problem and gives readers more information about organizations that offer help.
Resources: 6 Elements of Social Justice Ed., TeachingBooks.net, Author interview on youtube.
For more book reviews from April 24, 2015, go to author Susanna Hill’s Perfect Picture Book page.
Keila, I’m glad you shared this picture book.
With the recent earthquake, those water purification packets are vital.
Oh Manju, my heart aches for the people of Nepal. Clean water will be very important for survival.
Great issue book! Sadly, we deal with this issue in California quite a bit. More than 1 million (some estimates say 2 million) Californians live in areas that have no potable drinking water. Imagine going to a school where you can’t drink clean water from the drinking fountain or trust the water from your tap. And now those wells are running dry, so you don’t even have running water for the toilet or bath. In California. In the United States. It boggles my mind.
Thanks for highlighting this issue!
It really brings attention to the importance of water. I lived in California twice and still have family spread all over the state. The water problem there has increased over the years! Yep, hard to believe access to water is difficult for US citizens too. It really is a global crises.
My kind of story. I am so interested in water projects around the world. And, I love that children are helping their communities. I love your sharing this book. I haven’t seen it before. Will definitely check it out. Glad your kids are involved! Great resources.
It’s a touching story Patricia. Our school is involved in raising funds to purchase water purification packets. Those are amazing. For 5 cents a packet, one purifies a gallon of dirty water.