Author Linda Sue Park will be visiting libraries throughout the area during Teen Read Week™ to celebrate the Second Annual Greater Rochester Teen Read. Linda Sue will speak with teens about her newest award winning book, A Long Walk to Water. Join Linda Sue on tour: a kickoff at Teen Central at Rochester Public Library, Monday, 10/17, 3:30pm-5:30pm; a westside stop at Seymour Memorial Library in Brockport, Wednesday, 10/19, 6:30pm-8:00pm; an eastside stop at Penfield Public Library, Thursday, 10/20, 7:00pm-8:30pm; and several visits to schools throughout the Greater Rochester area.
The entire Greater Rochester community is encouraged to read A Long Walk to Water together. 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. Based on the true story of Salva Dut, who later came to Rochester, A Long Walk to Water is powerful and inspirational and will have readers of all ages eager to talk with Linda Sue about the book and Salva’s organization, Water for Sudan. For more information about Linda Sue Park visit her website and for more information about Salva Dut and Water for Sudan visit the Water for Sudan site. Copies of A Long Walk to Water are available at all libraries in Monroe County Library System.

For more information about The Greater Rochester Teen Read, an annual all community read begun by teen services librarians in Monroe County, please Contact Stephanie Squicciarini, Teen Services Librarian, at 223-9091, or by email at Stephanie.Squicciarini@fairportlibrary.org. This event is generously sponsored by the Friends of the Fairport Public Library. Teen Read Week™ is the national adolescent literacy initiative of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), the fastest-growing division of the American Library Association.