Book Club: Review of Several Books by Carole P. Roman

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

Our younger children love to read. So, we are always excited for the opportunity to review books in our homeschool. As we have previously reviewed books by Carole P. Roman, our first grader was so happy to look through all the books by Ms. Roman that we haven't yet read. Our family was able to pick four books from Carole P. Roman's assorted series:

• If You Were Me and Lived in...Peru 
• If You Were Me and Lived in...South Korea 
• If You Were Me and Lived in...Ancient Greece
• One to Ten: Squirrel's Bad Day 

How do you pick from so many GREAT books?

I sat down and took a look at the list of all of the books by Carole P. Roman to narrow down my picks before asking our children. Almost immediately, I was intrigued by One to Ten: Squirrel's Bad Day. I thought lessons of putting events into perspective would be a good one for our daughter. I also knew I would like to add to our collection of civilizations throughout history so we picked If You Were Me and Lived in...Ancient Greece which is full of history facts and gentle illustrations. And finally our first grader wanted two books from the Cultures Around the World series. He wanted to see what life was like for children in South Korea and Peru. 

How Did We Use The Books? 

With almost any books we receive, our first grader will read through them on his own before I even know he has done so. The first night after they arrived, I was busy and he read through both Peru and South Korea on his own. When asked if he liked them, he said, "They were really good." 

One evening shortly after the books arrived for review, I sat down with our daughter and read One to Ten: Squirrel's Bad Day. We took our time going through the book, examining the pictures and discussing what rank we would give experiences on the 1 to 10 scale of the rabbit. One stands for not so bad and ten represents the absolute worst. I am trying to continue to use the scale of 1 to 10 when our daughter gets upset so we can put the problems in perspective.

Our first grader is studying geography so we took time on separate days to read the books about life in South Korea and Peru. We talked about the different names and words used in both books and compared them to names and words used in America and in English.

It took more than a few days to read through If You Were Me and Lived in...Ancient Greece as it is a longer book with lots more details. For example, we were able to talk more about the gods and goddesses of Ancient Greece (as they are sprinkled throughout the text as well as contained in a glossary of names in the back of the book). And we were able to look up more information on the Olympics, the difference between the government of Ancient Greece and the United States of America, and Alexander the Great.  We also picked up some extra books from the library to read. (I love books that inspire us to read even more books!)

How Could You Use the Books in Your Homeschool? 

There are numerous ways in which homeschooling families can use these books during their day. Perhaps this is why so many homeschoolers love books! With books by Carole P. Roman, there is a great variety of ways to incorporate the books in your homeschool day: 

• As part of culture studies 
• As part of geography studies 
• As a starting point to research food from other nations 
• Visit art or history museums to view art pieces mentioned or shown the books 
• As part of history studies 
• As part of studying character traits 
• As read alouds 
• Bedtime reading 

What Did We Think? 

Personally, my favorite of the four was If You Were Me and Lived in...Ancient Greece. As you may know, I love history, so this was a fantastic add to our bookshelves. While I have other books about Ancient Greece, they are all written at middle school or above reading level. So this book is more easily accessible for our first grader. I also like that it has a pronunciation for each of the new names and terms to aid our children in reading the books aloud. 

Our first grader really enjoyed the two in the A Child's Introduction to Cultures Around the World series. He seems to gravitate towards studying geography and maps, so these made him quite happy. I appreciated that the books contain a pronunciation guide to help you read names and words that may be unfamiliar. (This also allowed us to work on proper pronunciation and learning how to use those guides with our son.)

I asked our son what his favorite part was in the series and he pointed out the last page where it says: "So you see, if you were me, how life in Peru could really be." These two pages are in each of the Child's Introduction to Cultures Around the World series that we have read with the name of the country changed, of course. He enjoyed reading about the history, the games, the food, the holidays, and about the culture in general.

My daughter enjoyed One to Ten: Squirrel's Bad Day. She felt sorry for the animal characters when we read about their bad experiences including when fox slipped on the ice, when the frog did poorly in school, and the when the squirrel's hamster died. I liked that we could talk about bad days and how to properly handle them in relation to imaginary characters she could relate to.

Do You Want to Learn More about Carole P. Roman? 

Don't forget to check out the other reviews by members of the Homeschool Review Crew! With so many great books to pick from, you will be sure to read about one you might love, too!

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