Diverse Books, Picture books

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.