Author Description

An anxious mama chicken tries to remain patient while hatching her newly laid egg. Find out what happens 21 days later when little by little, the egg finally begins to walk! Authors Caroline and Jane Kurtz worked with children from the Ethiopia Reads Gebeta Library in Addis Ababa to come up with ideas for a story that shows some of the truth behind this teret, a wise saying that people in Ethiopia use to teach children values and build character. Sometimes the meaning is clear. Sometimes the meaning has to be puzzled out and argued over. But the teret always helps people express truths and beliefs in an unusual way. Side by side text in indigenous Ethiopian languages like Amharic, Tigrinya or Afaan Oromo and English supports emerging bilingual readers as they develop fluency and vocabulary. 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 lang