Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to Donate $15,000 to Water for South Sudan

By Maryann Yin 

Long Walk to Water Cover (GalleyCat)Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) announced that more than 1 million copies of A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park have been sold. The publisher first released this book back in 2010.

The two-time Newbery Medal winner drew inspiration from the life story Salva Dut, one of the lost boys of Sudan, to write this novel. In honor of this momentous occasion, the publisher will donate $15,000 to Dut’s nonprofit organization, Water for South Sudan (WFSS).

Here’s more from the press release: “This source will provide fresh, accessible water to thousands of South Sudanese and allow hundreds of children (especially girls) to attend school regularly, rather than spending their days walking to and from the nearest well. HMH is also launching a matching gift campaign for employees in order to raise an additional $15,000 to furnish another well.” To learn more about Park’s book, watch her talk given at the TEDxBeaconStreet conference: “Can a Children’s Book Change the World?