Homeschool Review Crew - New York City By The Way Book Series Geography from a Christian Perspective

Our family had originally started to plan a trip to New York City this year, so I was thrilled to get a chance to review a book about New York City which is part of the By the Way Book Series from By the Way and is also one of their four newest books. The book is called New York City ~ By The Way "Discovering Biblical Truth in Everyday Life". Other members of the Review Crew had the opportunity to review titles covering the following locations:

Ireland
Indiana
Alaska

So, be sure to click on the link at the end of the review to read what they thought of these other books from By the Way.

What is the By The Way Book Series?

This book series is not just another set of books filled with facts about specific locations. Each individual book is part of a full series of books about geographical places and are presented from a Christian worldview. The books contain a full range of facts and information about the location but the main purpose is more than to just sit and read another book about a place. There are also suggested activities in the books. The primary goal of the author is to spark discussions and conversations between the child and his or her parent. The By the Way series is designed to provide information about geographical locations, integrate science, geography, and history together seamlessly throughout the stories, while intentionally sharing God's message and inspiring you and your child with God's beauty around us.

I received a 48-page hard cover book called New York City ~ By The Way "Discovering Biblical Truth in Everyday Life". Written by Joy Budensiek and illustrated by Stephanie Robledo.

The book is written as a story about Alex, Lexi, Juan, Mingli, Keisha, Omar and Stephan who go on a trip to New York City with their Pastor Jay. As you turn the pages, you will see colorful illustrations that are a combination of drawings and real photographs. Also, since New York City's 175 zip codes are unique to this location, it divides the story into sites you would find at various zip code locations throughout New York City. It also presents tidbits of information in "Did You Know?" text boxes that stand out on several pages.

How Did We Use It?

I sat down with my daughter and used the book as part of her Social Studies/History class. Mostly, I read aloud as we worked our way through the book. She immediately recognized the style of writing and the character names since we had reviewed Pennsylvania ~ Here We Come!, also a By The Way book, last year.

The copy of the book that I received was signed, which I thought was really nice!

This book about New York brought together biblical truths alongside facts about New York City and did it using the theme of the 175 zip codes contained in this one United States city.

I thought this was appropriate to read on the anniversary of the 9-11 Trade Tower attack:

For us, the book did open up some discussion. We talked about the memorial that is now in place at the 911 site. This point in history is important to be taught, since I realized the other day that my high school daughter's class of 2020 marks the last graduating class of students of whom most were not even yet born on 9/11/2001. Since the child I reviewed this book with was born toward the end of 2006, she wasn't even in our thoughts yet when this important part of history took place.

As we learned about the Statue of Liberty, we talked about the green patina that protects the copper underneath. We talked about how my husband and I went to the top of the Empire State building and how it is portrayed in a movie I love. We also found the information about how Wall Street got its name quite fascinating.

We also had fun trying to locate the "How many of these can you find" pictures throughout the book. Some of them were tricky, and we still haven't found the bird.

What Did We Think?

This book was packed with interesting information about New York, but what impressed me most was how they interspersed Scripture and biblical truths throughout. I was also a bit surprised that my daughter at one point actually grabbed the book from me so she could explore it more herself.

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Read what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew thought by clicking on the picture below: