If You Were Me and Lived in... France: A Child's Introduction to Cultures Around the Wrold, by Carole P. Roman

Title: If You Were Me and Lived in...France

Series: If You Were Me and Lived in...

Author: Carole P. Roman

Publisher: CreateSpace

Date: May 2, 2013

Pages: 26

Ages: 3 - 7

About the author:

Named to Kirkus Reviews' Best of 2012 for her first book, award winning author Carole P. Roman started writing as a dare from one of her sons. She just finished the first of six books in a groundbreaking new nonfiction series about culture around the world. "If You Were Me and Lived in..." combines her teaching past with her love of exploration and interest in the world around us.

About the book:

"If You Were Me and Lived in... France: A Child's Introduction to Culture Around the World" is the second book in Carole P. Roman's remarkable series about countries all over the globe. Roman opens up a world of wonder while highlighting the fact that underneath it all we are far more alike than we might have imagined. Focusing on what life would e like from a child's viewpoint, she examines the diversity of the people who make up our planet.

My take:

My daughter is more of a sensory rather than a pencil and paper learner. So, when it came to me wanting her to learn about different countries around the world, the perfect book series is of course, If You Were Me And Lived In...A Child's Introduction to Cultures Around the World, by Carole P. Roman. 

This time we read the one on France. And like all the other books in this series that we have read, she learned from this one too. She woke up on the 14th of July and said, "Mom, today is a holiday for the people in France. Just like we celebrate the 4th of July, they celebrate on the 14th." I love how she does this.

A big picture of France and its capitol are at the beginning of the book, which is also shown on the next page on an actual globe. I really like how this is done because children are shown where to look on a globe and find it. Just like the other books in this series, this one has the brightly colour pictures with happy cartoon characters all throughout. There are hand drawn pictures of what France looks like and the places there. For example, a flower shop, a bakery, and of course the infamous Eiffel Tower.

The writing is very easy for children to read themselves, which I like very much. The fact that she can read it will give her a better understanding of it versus me reading it to her. The words on the pages go no longer than a small paragraph, so it doesn't make them feel like the book is super long. They learn something new on each page, so they are kept interested in what they are reading. At the end of the book there is a pronunciation guide. I must say, I was looking forward to seeing more french words that my daughter could have learned. All in all, this is a really great book and think you should add it to your collection.

This book was given to me in exchange for my honest review.