It was the perfect opportunity to bring awareness about illiteracy.

A meet and greet with  “American Girl” author Jane Kurtz Saturday afternoon in Hays brought  many of her young fans to the FHSU Robbins Center.  They brought along their own American Girl dolls, and their moms.

The award-winning author talked about her book “Lanie,” part of the popular American Girl series, written in 2010.

Kurtz also talked about Ethiopia Reads.

She is the founder and an executive team member of the international non-profit organization, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Kurtz spent most of her childhood in Ethiopia and has written many books about that land and people.

The event involved children’s learning activities and drawings for prizes.  Donations for the drawings will be donated to Ethiopia Reads.  The top prizes were Kurtz’s autographed American Girl Doll Lanie, and an autographed FHSU sports package.

Ethiopia Reads helps Ethiopian communities build schools and libraries with the goal of providing much needed in-language books to the children of Ethiopia.  Literacy rates in Ethiopia average less than 50%; Ethiopia is ranked 195 out of 196 countries for adult literacy.