Smile at A Girl - Ethiopia

Locals for Literacy: celebrate girls while supporting
educational programs for children in Ethiopia


August 11, 2008 – Childhood friends who discovered a mutual love of international travel during a high-school trip to the USSR, Dr. Laura Anderson and Catie Askegreen Dupont have teamed up to publish Dr. Anderson’s children’s book Smile at a Girl, Ethiopia which celebrates the joy of girlhood through verse and images. Smile at a Girl, Ethiopia offers a poetic reminder of how important it is to encourage girls to live, move, dream, and accept themselves with boldness and joy. All proceeds from sales of the book will go to support programs run by Ethiopia Reads and will put books into the hands of young boys and girls who’ve never before had access to libraries or written stories.

Smile at a Girl, Ethiopia showcases girls as they engage in a wide variety of enriching activities, from laughing with friends to playing drums, from dancing and traveling to dreaming and reading. The text reminds readers of the power of a positive word or gesture: “Whisper encouragement to a girl/’Just do the best you can do.’/Burst with pride and hug her/When she dares to try something new.” The text was inspired by an active childhood in coastal Maine and by Laura’s travels across 38 countries, during which she observed the challenges and opportunities that await girls in every corner of the globe.

“I have been lucky to see young girls at play and at work in cultures all over the world,” says Anderson, a clinical psychologist who works in the public school system on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. “There is nothing like the laughter of girls giggling freely in play.” Small town Maine introduced both Laura and Catie to the joy of story telling and showed them that books build imaginations and enhance opportunities.

Later in life, after traversing Southern, Central, Eastern and Northern Africa, Dr. Anderson developed a special appreciation for Ethiopia when visiting her childhood friend Catie Dupont who lived there with her family while working for the US Embassy. An active volunteer in Washington, DC, Dupont currently leads efforts to support the publication of Smile at a Girl Ethiopia. So far, the project has received financial support from the Hanalei Hawaiian Civic Canoe Club, the Kapaa Rotary Club, and individual donors. Dupont aspires to raise $10,000 for the project.

Dr. Anderson’s text will be complemented by vivid photographs taken by Matthew Andrea, a DC-based volunteer who fell in love with Ethiopia after visiting in 2007. The book will be sold in the United States as a fundraiser for Ethiopia Reads and also distributed throughout the organization’s growing network of free libraries for children in Ethiopia. In keeping with Ethiopia Reads’ commitment to providing culturally relevant materials for children, Smile at a Girl Ethiopia will feature text in the Ethiopian language of Amharic.

About Ethiopia Reads
Based in Denver, CO and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Ethiopia Reads is a grassroots, volunteer-led non-profit organization that works to create a reading culture in Ethiopia. Ethiopia Reads plants libraries for children, publishes books in English as well as local languages and trains teachers and library workers to cultivate a love of reading in children. Co-founder Yohannes Gebregeorgis was recently named a “Hero” by CNN News. Board President Jane Kurtz is an internationally published children’s author and speaker.
Please visit http://www.ethiopiareads.org/ for more information.