The Boy Who Never Gave Up

Young Yared is not the best student. He fails so often that he considers giving up on school completely. But the failures and perseverance of a caterpillar inspire him to untangle his heart and return to his studies with purpose. Motivated by the beauty of church music, he developed a new way to write it that caught the ear of the emperor. His devotion to music and education elevated him from the streets of Axum to Sainthood, and his music is still considered sacred to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Side by side text in indigenous Ethiopian languages like Amharic, Tigrinya and Afaan Oromo support reading fluency. Beautiful illustrations by brilliant Ethiopian artist Daniel Getahun capture the style of ancient Ethiopian Civilization and the beauty of its people. Part of the Ready, Set, Go! series of bilingual early readers by Open Hearts Big Dreams, a nonprofit devoted to increasing Ethiopian literacy.

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) 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 Literacy, Innovation, Inclusion and Leadership Projects in collaboration with individuals and organizations in Ethiopia and globally.