If You Were Me and Lived in . . .book series {Crew Review}
I love using real books to teach history and geography. Carole P. Roman has a series of books that introduce children to cultures around the world. Currently there are four books available and Supergirl and I had the chance to read and review them!
- If You Were Me and Lived in France
- If You Were Me and Lived in Mexico
- If You Were Me and Lived in South Korea
- If You Were Me and Lived in Norway
All the books are subtitled: A Child’s Introduction to Cultures Around the World.
Each of these books are short, with colorful illustrations and large font text. They are fun to read aloud and full of information about the people and culture. The books begin with a map of the country with the capital city marked. The first two page spread shows a globe with two children pointing to the country. The text gives information about where in the world the country is located. The next two page spread discusses the capital city. Somewhere on those two-page spreads will be some interesting fact about the country [Norway is known as the “Land of the Midnight Sun”] or city [Paris was the first city in Europe to use gas lamps to light the streets.]
Each book has 22-26 pages and each book has a pronunciation guide which is very useful! Most of the two-page spreads have text on one side and a full size illustration.
In each book you will learn:
- The Capital City
- What you name might be [Minjoon, Jihoo or Minjae if you were a boy in South Korea, or Birgitte, Anne, or Hellena if you were a girl in Norway]
- What you would call your father or mother.
- What type of money you would use [kroner in Norway and won in South Korea]and some types of food eaten [crepes in France, tamales in Mexico]
- Some favorite sports
- A favorite place to take visitors [Eiffel Tower or Kirkenes Snowhotel]
- A Holiday or Festival
- The word for school
Using These Books in Our Homeschool:
Just as the subtitle suggests, these books are perfect for introducing children to different cultures. As soon as I saw these books I thought of Galloping The Globe, a literature based geography program for young children. Though the If You Were Me and Lived books are not actually recommended by GTG, I found them to be a perfect fit to replace some recommended spines that I couldn’t get at my library. [I think that if these If You Lived Were Me and Lived In . . . existed when GTG was written these books would have been included!]
I decided to use each book as a spine for a two week study (3 to 4 days a week) of each country. We started with Mexico and then moved on to France. Currently we’re working on South Korea. I want to save Norway to study when we can coordinate a visit with Granka and Grandma and have them share family stories related to their Scandinavian heritage.
For each country we color a flag and mark the capital city on a map. I’ve also found videos and books at the library to explore a little more. It would be fun to also include a meal based on the foods described in each book.
The Details:
- Author: Carole P. Roman
- Book Series: If You Were Me and Lived In . . .
- Countries currently available:
- Mexico
- France
- South Korea
- Norway
- Age Recommendation: Preschool to age 8. Ideal even for all under 10 but can also be used with older children.
- Price: Each book is available for under $9!!!
Supergirl and I have been enjoying these books and I look forward to reading more of them as they are released!
Visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog to read what others have to say about these wonderful books from Carole P. Roman!
You can read my other Schoolhouse Review Crew Reviews by clicking here.
All information is correct and accurate as of the date of this review.
I love the way your used the books as a spine to get the "ball rolling" in that country! Thanks for the lovely review. It's nice to hear they did what they were supposed to do.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great review! Thank you for sharing your experiences using these books. I appreciated hearing how you used them as part of your studies. The content definitely looks like a great way to start a unit study. All of the books look awesome! I so wanted to review these books, but had too much going on that week.
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