Author Description

Enjoy three books in one with our new collection of stories about Ethiopia’s (and much of the world’s) favorite beverage: coffee. Start with the discovery of this amazing plant with The Happiest Herder In the Land, which tells the legend of how a curious shepherd and his dancing goats discovered the secret hidden in coffee berries. Next, This Wonderful Plant explores some of the botany of the plant and its role in Ethiopia’s ecosystems. Finally, We Love Hot Coffee looks at the beloved coffee traditions and rituals in Ethiopian culture and celebrations. Side by side bilingual text supports emerging readers in developing vocabulary and fluency. 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 Fund (OHBD) i