If You Were Me books by Carole P Roman ~ a TOS review

Books and culture all rolled into one colorful, interesting, fun, well-bound package? This wonderful series of books by Carole P. Roman fit the bill perfectly! We have been reviewing four books from this author’s series titled “If You Were Me and Lived In . . .” They are packed with learning and they have been brought to you by Carole P. Roman and Awaywegomedia.com!

We were sent four of the books to read and use:

There are four more reviewed by other Homeschool Review Crew families:

If You Were Me and Lived in…Renaissance Italy (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 2)
If You Were Me and Lived in… Elizabethan England (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 3)
If You Were Me and Lived in…Colonial America (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 4)
If You Were Me and Lived in…the Middle Ages (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 6)

Each of the books we received are well-bound soft cover books that are approximately 8 1/2 inches square. They are printed in full color. There are a few different illustrators for this series and the ways that they are illustrated also vary. Three of ours have drawings. One has photo backgrounds with illustrations placed on top.

Each book covers the same series of topics for whichever culture it is about. There is family structure, names, living quarters/homes, foods, education, travel, and more. The information is written from the perspective of a child in that culture. Many of the things that are important and distinguish that culture from a different one are addressed from the child’s point of view.

With simple but clear sentences, each of these books quickly and clearly addressed the vital aspects of a culture. They are appropriate, in my opinion, for all ages of students. Middle school students can gain a large amount of information quickly with these books. They also hold the attention and engage the younger elementary students. So, these are a win-win.

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Each of the girls was given at least one of the books to read and discuss with me. We used some of the discussion questions from Mrs. Roman’s blog site. These are found under the title “worksheets & resources.” We did most of the discussion out loud. Then each of the girls was asked to help write this review by writing about one of the books.

If You Were Me and Lived in…Ancient Greece (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 1) – review by Miss E, age 12

This book was very interesting to me. It places you in a child’s position according to what your father did. Your father might be a merchant, soldier, or just a fisherman. You might be a girl learning sewing and cooking. Or you might be a boy learning how to fight. I also learned about Greek gods and goddesses. I know about the Roman gods and goddesses and a little on the Greek before, but I wanted to compare them. This book taught me a lot about Ancient Greece.

If You Were Me and Lived in…Ancient China: The Han Dynasty – review by Miss L, age 10

If You Were Me and Lived in Ancient China is a book about life in ancient China. I’m very interested in China, ancient and modern, so I was very excited to get to read this book. It has many different pages on many, many different topics. It tells about how long ago you might have lived, the people in power at that time, what your home and family were like, what you might eat and wear, and many other things. I think that my favorite part of the whole book was the page on names. It has two boy names and two girl names that you might have had one of and what the names meant, too. I also really liked the clear, bright pictures showing just what the descriptive words told of. I really enjoyed it and recommend it for ages 8 and up, or for anyone interested in China.

viking-book

If You Were Me and Lived in…Viking Europe – review by Miss J, age 7

The boys names were Knut and Ulf. The girls names were Sigrid and Hilde. I think about them as kind of weird but they have different cultures. There were three different kinds of people (classes): Yearls, Carls, and Throlls. The first one meant you were really wealthy. The second meant you were middle and owned a farm and had to do all those farm things. The third were slaves and had to do hard labor. They were not well liked.

Your dad helped other people. Those people would return the favor and help your dad when he needed it. You would help your mom by bringing in saltwater and she would make salt. She would also make yummy stews. Your dad took men to help defend a village and the king gave your dad arm rings for his service.

I like the book. But I did not understand the part where when guests came over they drank out of horns that were pointy so they couldn’t put it down. I don’t get that. Overall, I think that it was a fun book. I think I would recommend it for kids 7 and under. Also for 12 and 10.

If You Were Me and Lived in…the American West (Volume 7) – review by Lori, At Home Mom

The American West book places you as a child moving from the east to the Oregon territory and traveling along the trail to get there. Life on the trail was not easy and this is shown through many of the experiences the child has with the wagon train. From camping out under the stars to meeting various Indian tribes, from cooking on a camp fire to crossing large rivers, the adventure seems to always be there. Once the wagon train reached Oregon, there was still much to do. The settlers had to build their cabins and prepare the land to grow food. The life was a difficult one and this books shares these trials and adventures with children.

We have really enjoyed these books and I know that they will get a lot of use here at our house. We also have the books from her country series. We love books that give us so much information in an enjoyable format like this.

At Home.

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