Author Description

A lonely pup searches the Ethiopian countryside for a friend in our heartwarming look at the plight of a stray dog. Along the way he encounters a variety of animals and learns something about friendship. Most of Ethiopia's dogs are homeless, but that's changing thanks to volunteer efforts to vaccinate and find homes for the thousands of strays in need of a friend. Side by side dual-language text supports bilingual readers in vocabulary and conversational fluency. Playful mixed-media collage illustrations feature East African wildlife and inhabitants. Part of the Ready, Set, Go! series of early readers in Ethiopian languages by Open Hearts Big Dreams. Open Hearts Big Dreams Ready Set Go (OHBD-RSG) Books were created to help increase the literacy rate in Ethiopia through giving readers books with stories in their heart languages, full of colorful illustrations with Ethiopian settings and details. Profits from book sales are used to create, print, and distribute more OHBD-RSG books to kids in Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous country. Ethiopia's population has a high percentage of children ages 0-14. Only a small percentage attend pre-school or kindergarten, and the adult literacy rate is around 50%. Some of our books are based on wise Ethiopian sayings that often rhyme in Amharic. If an adult says the first half, many children can chant the second half. Sometimes the meaning of these sayings is clear. Sometimes it has to be puzzled out and argued over. But sayings and idioms and proverbs help people express truths and beliefs in unusual ways. Other books are based on STEAM topics, cooking, colors, counting and more. Since late 2017, OHBD has published over 150 unique OHBD-RSG bilingual titles in a number of Ethiopian, African and global languages plus English and has plans to publish more titles and add more languages. New titles or languages are added monthly; follow our author page to get new release announcements. Open Hearts Big Dreams F