Book of Choice: The Water Princess

Title: The Water Princess
Author: Susan Verde, based off the childhood experience of Georgie Badiel
Publication: 2016

This book is unique in that it is based off the true story of the famous model, Georgie Badiel. She grew up in Burkina Faso, a small country in Africa. This book portrays the daily struggles of youth in her country, in which she must walk long and far to just get drinking water. There are no wells close by so she must use the majority of her day to retrieve water from a far away well. The author adds a very informative note at the end of the book, explaining the lack of wells in this part of the world, to inspire change and action.

I believe this book is a great way for students to learn about crises abroad and understand that some children lack daily necessities, like drinking water. This book will open their eyes to new problems that our world faces and educate them about different parts of the world. Hopefully, this book would encourage them to talk about the problem of clean drinking water abroad, with their family and friends, and maybe even donate money or time to help.

The first element that stuck out to me in this book was the illustrations. When looking through the pages of the book, one feel as if he or she is in Africa through the colors, culture and landscape present in the pictures. Even the font of the writing that the author chose is appropriate to the book and looks African in nature.

Next, the author uses beautiful imagery and personification to bring her writing to life. As she states, "I can almost touch the sharp edges of the stars...I can make the wind play hide-and-seek" (Verde). The reader can picture these images in his or her head, making the writing very effective in giving the reader sensory details. Verde makes the stars, grass, animals, and sun come alive by giving them human like characteristics, an intelligent use of figurative language. Lastly, I love the way Verde ends the story,

"I am Princess Gie Gie. My kingdom? The African sky. The dusty earth. And, someday, the flowing, cool, crystal-clear water. Someday..." (Verde). 

This ending gives us hope that one day the people of Africa will have access to clean and abundant drinking water. While it hasn't happened yet, with the help of others it will. This is an effective way to make a call to action for readers and emphasize her point about a need for change in access to water.