Both the article and chapters described the pain of mass starvation, crippling dehydration, deadly lion predators targeting weak, straggling children, and the violence from rival tribal groups like the Nuer.

In A Long Walk to Water, it describes the pain that it takes to get through the desert and the cruelty in the Acobo Desert. Many people died in the desert, with no tools to bury any bodies.

But the type of things in the article are a little bit different. One difference is the use of statistical facts, such as the total 26,000 Lost Boys who fled and only half surviving the journey. But A Long Walk to Water is using fiction to tell what happened in the South Sudanese desert from the article.

Also, for the balance of the historical accuracy and fictional storytelling, the writer, Park, avoids the cruel fact of death and added some original dialogue to make the story more interesting. This would make the reader want to read it and also make it more adaptable for teenagers. The author also uses the theme of friendship to give the audience a little hope.