Carole P. Roman Books {Crew Review}

Books in the mail is always some of the best kind of mail! This time, I received several picture books to review this time, all written by Carole P. Roman:

• If You Were Me and Lived in... Ancient China
• If You Were Me and Lived in... Elizabethan England
• If You Were Me and Lived in... the Ancient Mali Empire

If You Were Me and Lived in... the Ancient Mali Empire

This was a fun book. There are many areas in Africa that we have not hit very much thus far in our educational journey, and it was fun to learn a little bit about one of them. Ancient Mail was new and interesting for us to read about. The book is 68 pages, plus a glossary, and it covers quite a bit of ground, including touching on clothing, housing, customs, and some history. The pictures aren't fancy, and often suggest, rather than spell out, which leaves plenty of space for the child's imagination to fill in the details.




If You Were Me and Lived in... Ancient China

This is also an interesting book. I gave it to Dragon(7) to read, and while I thought that he would find it interesting, it wasn't his favorite. However, I think that has more to do with where he was at (not in the mood for a book that I picked for him) than with the book itself. It's a really nice book, filled with all kinds of interesting information about China. It's full of interesting bits about housing, clothing, religion and culture, silk production, major professions, and a number of other things, all presented in the story of a young boy from ancient China. I enjoyed reading it. Like the book about Ancient Mali, it's a substantial one, with more than 60 pages.



If You Were Me and Lived in... Elizabethan England

Hero(10) started reading this in the car, but when he realized how long it is, he stopped and just read it himself. Like the rest of these "If You Were Me and Lived in Ancient _____" books we received, it's more than 60 pages, and I think that he didn't want to wait around long enough to read it out loud. The pages do have quite a bit of text on them; it's a lot to read out loud in a single sitting. He easily finished it before we finished our trip to Grandpa's House.

Hero(10)'s review: It was cool because it was interesting. I learned that you would be an apprentice at a far younger age than today, and I learned that there was actually a rule: they said no meat on certain days because it allowed the fishing industry to recover from the week. It was a time of no war, not to mention a new class of people had emerged: merchants.



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