TOS CREW Review- If You Were Me

For the past few weeks we have visited France, Norway, Mexico and South Korea!  Too bad it was only with the help of books, but it has been fun none the less!

We received four books in the If You Were Me And Lived In... series...South Korea, Mexico, France and Norway, the newest book in the series.   All were written by children's author Carole P. Roman from Away We Go Media to expose children to different countries and their cultures.

Each 20- 26 page book is filled with facts about the country in a fun, conversational tone.  By introducing things like what you might be named if you lived there to places you would see and what you would eat, your child can learn a lot about these remarkable places. 

Also covered are family names, types of money used, popular foods and games and special holidays celebrated.  Each book starts with a map to show the location of  the particular country and ends the same way- "So now you see, if you were me, how life in ....could really be"  While the rest of the book is not written in rhyme, I love the way it wraps up that way.


One of the things that makes these books extra special is the pronunciation guide at the end of each book.  We had fun trying to see if we could figure out how to say certain words and it pleased my son that we could now "speak more than just English and Spanish!"  ;)   Of course, our favorite book in the series was the one about Mexico.  We enjoyed seeing how many words we already knew since we are studying Spanish and my youngest son, who was adopted from Guatemala, was excited to recognize other similarities between the two places.

These books are targeted for ages Pre K to 8 years old and with some help my 6 year old was able to read them.  Because each one goes through the same topics he was able to pick up on the themes quickly and then had fun reading them by himself.    

For us reading is always fun, but when we can incorporate a book into our studies they are even more valuable.  These little readers would make a perfect addition to a basic geography lesson as well as world history.  They cover just enough to be educational without being a boring read for younger students.  Carole blessed us with a blow up ball with the earth on it and these books sparked an interest in Geography anew here.  The kids, yes even the 15 year old, had fun throwing the ball to each other while calling out a country's name.  The person that caught the ball then had to tell the capital of that country and pick a new one to call out.  Who said learning cannot be fun?!  My intention had been to eventually put these books away with our school curriculum, but my son quickly squirreled them away with his own books in his room- guess that is a sure sign that he likes them!

You can purchase the If You Were Me and Lived In... series for $8.99 each except for the newest release of Norway which is listed for $8.62.  These paperbacks are also available in Kindle format.