Our family really enjoys learning about other cultures. We place a big emphasis on foreign missions, and make supporting missionaries a priority. We have many missionaries come visit our church, and the children are always fascinated to learn about the far off places where those families live. When I found out about this new series of books from author Carole P. Roman and Away We Go Media, to introduce children to other cultures, I was very interested!
Carole is in the process of writing a series of six books called "If You Were Me And Lived In..." Through The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew we had the privilege to review four of those books:
"If You Were Me and Lived In Norway"
About the books:
Each of the books is about 25 pages long. They are small, square shaped, lightweight books with a durable soft cover that easily fit in a child's hands. There is writing on the left side of the pages, and cute full color illustrations on the right side. The book introduces the country, shows where it is located on the globe, then proceeds to tell the child that "If you were me, and lived in.... this is what some of your favorite things would be." It is short, and can be read in just a few minutes. While native words are used, there is a pronunciation guide at the back of the book, so that the reader will know how to say the words correctly when reading it. Each book lists favorites from the perspective of a child - something they can easily relate to - such as favorite foods, places to go, toys, popular names, sports, and what daily life would look like.
What age is this for? The books are recommended for children in pre-K through grade 3. Obviously, for the younger ages, a parent would use this as a read-aloud. My 3rd grader was able to read it all by herself, but enjoyed having it read to her as well because of the unfamiliar words. While my 3rd grader enjoyed the books, they did seem a bit young for her, and I think kindergarten level students would make an excellent target audience for these books.
How we used these books: My 3rd grader enjoyed them so much that she read all four in one day! The older children in the family also enjoyed flipping through them and checking them out! To make the books a little more challenging, I had my 3rd grader make a poster of what she learned about children around the world from reading these books. She wrote a list of 'favorites' from other cultures on poster board, and found pictures of the particular things that were described in the books, to glue on to her poster. She also looked up the flag for each country and drew a small flag on her poster.
How can you purchase? Carole P. Roman has a link to Amazon and Barnes & Noble on her website. The paperback books can be purchased for $8.99 and the Kindle version is currently selling for $.99.
My recommendation: If you would like a creative way to introduce your young children to children from around the world, and show them that children in other countries live differently than we do, then you would be happy with these books. The author accurately describes the books as "an introduction to learning about other cultures".
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Thank you for the wonderful review. I especially liked the poster your child made. Kenya is on Amazon and Turkey should be soon.
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by! We really enjoyed these books!
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