Review: Carole P. Roman books and collections

We first learned of Carole P. Roman and her amazing books last year when we got to Review a few of them.  This year rolled around and we had the opportunity to review  Carole P. Roman books and collections again, so Issac and I jumped on it. Last year one of Issac's favorite books was the If You Were Me and Lived in...Viking Europe: An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time. This year we decided to stick to books in that collection and learn more about additional periods in time. Issac chose to read the following books:

If You Were Me and Lived in...Renaissance Italy: An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time

If You Were Me and Lived in...the Middle Ages: An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time 

If You Were Me and Lived in...the American West: An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time.



Issac really enjoys this series because it gives him a sense of how kids his age lived in different time periods.  He chose to read If You Were Me and Lived in...the American West: An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time.  I figured this one might interest him the most because it was a time when people rode horses, traveled west and hunted their own food. It seems truly like the adventure of a lifetime to a child.  Young children more often than not don't realize how dangerous it was to travel west.  There were all sorts of challenges for the families to overcome.  The book starts out talking about "The Great Migration of 1843" which is something Issac hadn't heard of before. We had a great discussion about it. Issac learned that the covered wagons that the families traveled in were called Conestoga.  We also learned that some people called them prairie schooners because they looked like a boat.  Horses were something every family had, but for a journey such as this oxen were the reliable animal. They would also help with the planting once the family reached the new home.  When we moved from California to North Carolina Issac were very young. We talked about what type of items we packed for the move verses what the settlers needed to pack. They had to pack huge amounts of food and supplies not only for the trip, but to help get them started. There were no grocery stores or gardens already planted for them. This type of move was for the survival of the fittest. Probable one of the toughest part of the trip was always traveling over the water.  Once they arrived at their new home there was building of homes to be completed and gardens started.  When the children weren't needed at home as much they attended school. In the age of technology these days our children find it very hard to understand how our ancestors lived.  These great books by Carole P. Roman can help them to understand better.  

The next book on our list was If You Were Me and Lived in...Renaissance Italy: An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time.  This is a time period that has always fascinated me personally. I was excited to read this book with Issac for my own enjoyment!  We start the book with a map, so that the kids know exactly where Florence, Italy is located.  One thing I always enjoy that is included in these books are possibly names for the children in that time period. Here we learned that Dolce and Lisabetta were common girls names and Lorenzo and Cosimo were common for boys. Issac thought all those names sounded strange, but I explained to him that our names are usually much less informal than they used to be long ago. Many people were poor and owned little.  Children didn't go to school and disease was widespread. We learned that Renaissance meant rebirth in French.  As this change emerged there were many new merchants.  Literature was coming into life much more than it ever had before.  Issac learned that the Medici family owned the largest bank in Europe. Also that he supported many artists such as Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael.  Issac asked if the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were artists?? We both got a good laugh about the common names.  In this day and age we all have our own place settings at the table and would think it rude if someone ate off our plate. Issac liked that meals were shared with another person and used wooden plates. He figured it was a race to see who finished the food the quickest! The end of the books always have the most amazing pages.  Here we saw art from the famous artists.  We also got to read about some of the famous people.  As always there is a glossary included to help the kids with any words they might not understand.  

Our final book, If You Were Me and Lived in...the Middle Ages: An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time, was another favorite of mine.  We started off looking at life in the rural villages.  We learned that small territories were called fiefdoms and the rulers controlled all the people and money.  Issac realized as we were reading that it seemed as though people were either wealthy or they were poor. There didn't seem to be much of an in between.  Children's names could be Lelisende or Aalis for girls and Roul or Geoffrey for boys.  Issac continued to struggle with the "strangeness" of these names compared to people he knows. I think Issac's favorite part of the book would be the descriptions of the motte and bailey castle.  He asked if we could have a moat around our house to protect us from enemies.  He learned that the portcullis was an iron gate that allowed people to enter. He thought it would be fun to raise and lower it. We talked about how important it was in a time of battle to help keep the people inside safe. I found it interesting to learn that two chimneys meant your family was wealthy. We have a fire often in the winter, but Issac said he wouldn't want to have to have that as our only source of heat. He also said he wouldn't have wanted to be a servant and sleep on piles of straw. We discussed how huge a part of life the church was in the Middle Ages.  There seemed to be much more a sense of community then than we have these days. Issac said he'd love to go to a festival because it sounded like all they did was eat and play games. He didn't like the idea of the hard work that was required just to get through each day.  

There are so many great things about these books that it's hard to talk about everything.  Some of the things I love about the books are:
The Beautiful Illustrations
The Famous People Listed in the Back of the Book
The Glossary to Help the Kids with All the Words They Don't Know
The Fact That You Could Read These Books Over and Over and Continue to Learn New Information Each Time.  
All in all I find these wonderfully written, not too long to lose a child's interest and truly great reads for anyone that has children. You could use these to add into your history, you could read them aloud during the day or even use them as nighttime reads.  
I hope to add If You Were Me and Lived in...the Ancient Mali Empire: An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time as well as If You Were Me and Lived in....the Mayan Empire: An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time to our current library of Carole P. Roman books. There are so many choices in the  Carole P. Roman books and collections that I highly recommend checking out what all the other families chose to read.  As always social media is the place to find new and updated information on the collections.
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