Oral Tales of Somalia

I started volunteering with the YWCA\u27s Ready to Learn program, which places volunteers into homes with immigrant families and their childrent to make sure that the kids are ready and on track for kindergarden. This program places a huge emphasis on reading books to children to help with bonding, vocabulary, and improving Somali and English language skills. Part of the program recommends immigrant parents to read to their child for 15 minutes a day. I thought it would be interesting to see if I could acquire some Somali children\u27s books for the families I was working with and I found that it was very difficult and that most of the books had to be interlibrary loaned and the ones available for purchase were very expensive. I viewed this as a problem and decided that I would apply for a grant to see if I could interview local Somali elders, collect their stories and have a Children\u27s book illustrated and printed especially for the Mankato and surrounding communities. Each family in the program will recieve a free copy (with English/Somali translations) and a copy will be donated to all Mankato elementary schools, libraries and universities. A copy will also be sent to other elementary schools with a significant immigrant population within a 100 mile radius. This book will help facilitate bonding, vocabulary and Somali/English language skills. This book is respectfully created and illustrated for the Somali children and families living in Minnesota