Author Description

Whether you take a taxi, a mule or a bajaj, there are lots of ways to travel in Ethiopia. What's the best way to get to the mountains, mosque, church or school? What if we want to go somewhere far away or just down the street? Detailed, playful illustrations capture the beauty and diversity of Ethiopian culture as we follow pairs of Ethiopian children as they navigate their world by car, train and bicycle. Side by side text in Amharic and English support emerging bilingual readers as they build vocabulary and develop fluency, while engaging illustrations capture young attentions. Ready, Set, Go! books are part of Open Hearts Big Dreams larger mission of increasing literacy in indigenous Ethiopian languages like Amharic, Tigrinya and Afaan Oromo. Ready Set Go Books, an Open Hearts Big Dreams Project, is focused on increasing 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 Ready Set Go Books to kids in Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous country. Ethiopia's population is 44% children, ages 0-14 (43 million out of 97 million total). Only 5.5% of children attend pre-school or kindergarten, and the adult literacy rate is 49%. 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. Since late 2017, OHBD has published over 100 unique #ReadySetGo dual language titles in three Ethiopian languages plus English and has plans to publish another 100 titles and add more languages in the coming years. New titles and/or languages are added monthly; follow our author page to get new release announcements. Open He