The ravenous readers in my household could live in a library or bookstore, if only given the chance. They adore books of all kinds and educational fiction (like historical fiction or strong moral, ethical, or lesson-based fiction) is one of the most effective ways for them to learn and remember something, particularly with my oldest. Non-fiction books are great, too, but books that make something humorous, personal, and/or relatable are the ones that remain the most memorable.
Some books that we've recently received for review have been: Oh Susannah: It's in the Bag, If You Were Me and Lived in... Colonial America, and If You Were Me and Lived in... Ancient Greece, all of which were written by Carole P. Roman. About the Books & Our Experience
Carole P. Roman is an award-winning, independent author who has written over fifty books for kids. She has penned several different series, including some with historical and/or cultural topics and books at nursery/preschool or early reader levels.
It's worth noting that the author's website has a link to "worksheets & resources", which are mostly links to lists of questions for kids to answer after reading some of the books. She has them in a blog post and they can be highlighted and printed that way. The "If You Were Me and Lived In... ____" books which we received were bursting at the seams with colorful illustrations, all kinds of relevant facts and details, and a glossary of terms. They are paperback but seem relatively solid with somewhat thick, glossy pages. Both Big Sis and Lil' Sis read along with me as we explored, compared, and contrasted the two time periods.
Our history focus right now is early American through modern times, so the If You Were Me and Lived in... Colonial America book covers just the right time frame to supplement our studies. However, with the amount of information that is packed into this little book, this might actually make a decent base or reference for a unit study as well.
This is not just a quick, light-hearted picture book style story, though it does, indeed, appear that way at first glance. It's not a long story, but I wouldn't necessarily call it a quick read either because we felt it was a lot to take in all at once. While it does not lay out a multitude of dates or pile on a myriad of specific names (though the author does include a short list with brief bios of certain key figures - which is nice), it attempts to paint a picture of the time period by sharing about life, experiences, and people in general. It touches on major events, challenges, and work, and describes even what some might consider to be minor aspects like food, chores, and clothing. We felt that it did a good job at this, but I also felt it had an edge that made it more facts and less story. This means you get a lot of bang for your educational buck, but less entertainment along the way. Still, the author has a decent balance of the two, especially considering the purpose of the book. The illustrations are a bit quirky, or even slightly crude, at times. It could be argued that this actually suits the time period and adds to the feeling of being there. The text was white printed on a very dark background, which felt awkward and strained my eyes. This bothered me as I found it to be distracting from time to time (even if my daughter didn't notice). The story has the reader imagine they are a child of parents in London and explains that people felt they needed to move to seek freedom to practice religion and life as they desired. It follows the child to the Netherlands and then aboard the ship sailing to America, the harsh, difficult times of getting a village established, what it was like growing up there, connections with Native Americans, and the colony growing and taking root.
We also received If You Were Me and Lived in... Ancient Greece, which does not match up with our current history study time period, but we have covered it and will again, so we went ahead and looked through the whole book. (I couldn't, for the life of me, get the image of this one to show up here, but you can see it in the group book photo at the top of this post.)
The text in this book was dark on a light background, which my eyes appreciated after reading the other one. I also liked the illustrations even more; the pictures were well designed, interesting, and did a well at complementing the story. The story begins with a mention of geography and Greece today, then moves into imagining you lived in 350 BC. It is comprehensive in the many aspects of life and experience, just as the Colonial America book. It talks about government, housing, schooling, military service, city-states, slaves, food, clothing, jewelry, gender roles, markets, trade, and more. Most pages have a couple of sentences about a God or Goddess that usually at least partly relates to a topic discussed on that page. There is also a reference section near the end of the book, before the glossary, where the author lists and describes the various Greek Gods and Goddesses.
Final Thoughts
Good books! Not perfect, not our absolute favorites, but a solid choice nonetheless. If You Were Me and Lived in... Colonial America, and If You Were Me and Lived in... Ancient Greece, along with the other similarly titled books in the series, could certainly be a solid addition to geography, culture, or history studies. And Oh Susannah: It's in the Bag is a sweet, charming story for a young child as well.
You can visit the author on her website or on social media at Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Good Reads. you can also find her books on Amazon. If you'd like to find out about what other homeschool families think about these and many other books from Carole P. Roman, click on the banner-link below and read to your hearts content!
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI'm a homeschooling mom of three, enjoying our time in Hawaii and hoping to share some of that experience with you, including ideas, reviews, resources, and information. Archives
November 2017
Categories
All
|