Eyes of the Leopard: A Story About Watching Your Back in Amharic and English

By Caroline Kurtz

As the Ethiopian proverb goes: "The eye of the leopard is on the goat; the eye of the goat is on the leaf." This look at the tense relationship between predators and prey also illustrates the complex layers of the food web in East Africa between the livestock and beautiful wild creatures, and the wild cats who hunt them. Detailed illustrations of the wild endangered animals and common farm animals enliven the side by side text in Amharic and English. Clear text and pictures help associate vocabulary terms for African plants and animals. The Ready, Set, Go! series of bilingual early readers by Open Hearts Big Dreams is part of a broad effort to increase literacy in Ethiopian indigenous languages. 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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 167873344X
• ISBN13: 9781678733445
• Release Date: December 2019
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.21 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.0" x 0.1" x 8.3"