Puddle Jumping: Schoolhouse Review: If You Were Me And Lived In...

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My child and I got to review Carole P. Roman’s, Away We Go Media books, If You Were Me And Lived In series for children Pre-K to age 8.
The books consisted of:

If You Were Me and Lived in Norway: An Introduction to Learning About Other Cultures
If You Were Me and Lived in Mexico: A Child's Introduction to Cultures Around the World
If You Were Me and Lived in France: A Child's Introduction to Cultures Around the World
If You Were Me and Lived in South Korea: A Cchild's Introduction Cultures Around the World

The books are available for $9 in paperback format.

Norway

Mexico

France

South Korea

I received for review 4 paperback books, an inflatable globe, passports and two pencils with pictures of flags on them. It was quite a fun package to open.

I sat down with my daughter and inflated the globe beach ball and sharpened the pencil. We filled out her passport.

I asked her to choose which country she wanted to go to first. She chose France.

We read about France and proceeded reading through the four books in the same way. She chose which country she wanted to visit next, and that’s the book we would read about.

We opened each book, one at a time, and I had her locate the country on the globe.

At first, I read to her, showing her the colorful pictures throughout each book. After we had read a couple books, she began reading along with me.

When we were done with each book, we would go to the passport booklet and write down the people we met (each book listed three boy names and three girl names that are common in that country).

Next, we would go to the passport page that lists places we visited, things we saw. On these pages, we chose to write down the landmarks mentioned in each story. For instance, France’s was the Eiffel Tower.

When we read about the ice hotel in Norway, I looked up real-life images of that hotel so she could learn even more about how fascinating this architectural sculpture hotel really is.

This was a really fun way to learn a bit about each country. I even learned a few things. For instance, for some reason I never realized why the Eiffel Tower was named, “Eiffel”.

The author is a former social studies teacher, so she knows geography and cultural studies well. She did a fantastic job of taking information about each country and presenting it in a kid-friendly manner through really nice colorful illustrations and through presenting:

-Geography
-Hands-on learning
-Foreign Language
-Historical Landmarks
-Cultural Studies
-Common Foods from different Countries

The books also introduced some common words in each language. Each book mentioned the words for mom and dad, school, what form of money is used, and most mentioned the word for baby doll in that particular language. Each book mentioned common foods that children enjoy in each country.

My daughter giggled at the sound of some of the words. She also pointed out which names she thought sounded nice for the girls. She really liked the French and Mexican girl names.

One thing I found interesting as we read each book is how my daughter responded to the various schools and words for school. Each time, the pictures would show a school building in that particular country. Since she learns at home, this is probably one of the only parts presented that she didn't seem to relate to, but she did quickly recognize what the foreign words were referring to.

The other interesting moment was her reaction to the snow hotel in Norway. She had many questions wondering why someone would want to stay in a hotel like that, asking, "wouldn't they get cold?" and, "why would someone want to sleep there when they lay down to sleep and realize they're freezing."