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by Ready Set Go Books (Author), Stephanie Schlatter (Illustrator), Aklilu Dessalegn (Translator)
Explore the beautiful remote wilderness of southern Ethiopia and learn to read in Ethiopian languages in Let's Go to Maji, where the Dizi people sing from hill to hill and the monkeys and leopards roam the mountainsides. Lush watercolors of the forested southern Ethiopian landscape complement bilingual text in English and Ethiopian languages including Amharic, Tigrinya or Afaan Oromo. Maji is an ancient area of Ethiopia where the first British Consulate was built. The Dizi people who inhabit the area are forest people who mourn their shrinking environment, and work to protect what remains. Caroline Kurtz learned to read in Maji, where she spent her early school years. She returned to teach English there, and now is working to bring power and clean water to the area with off-the-grid sustainable solutions. Part of the Ready, Set, Go series of Ethiopian early readers by Open Hearts Big Dreams, a nonprofit devoted to increasing literacy in Ethiopian indigenous languages and expanding access to education across Ethiopia and beyond. 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 Hearts Big Dreams Fund (OHBD) is a 501(3)(c) not for profit organization that believes the chance to dream big dreams should not depend on where in the world you are born. Our mission is to inspire and enable youth in Ethiopia through READY SET GO books, STEM and Innovation Projects in collaboration with individuals and organizations providing literacy, education, and leadership opportunities.
