Schoolhouse Review: If You Were Me (Away We Go Media)
If You Were Me and Lived in...South Korea
If You Were Me and Lived in...France
If You Were Me and Lived in...Norway
What I loved about the way these books were written was that it wasn't just explaining what they do in that country. Instead they try to get you to imagine what it would be like if you lived there. The first page says something like "If you were me and lived in France, your home would be here in Western Europe." Then they show the illustration that is on the cover where they are pointing to that place on the globe. To make sure Gess got this we had her find it on the globe too.
Once she did that we went on to learn more. Each page would have a description about something in that country and a nice illustration of whatever it was. The books are 22 to 28 pages in length and the print is nice and large which makes it easy to read. Still, there will definitely be words that are unfamiliar to you, which is the point of the book in the first place. To help you with that they have a pronunciation page at the end of each book so you can say these new words correctly. For example Hanbok which is traditional clothing in South Korea is pronounced han-bow while Birgette, a girl's name in Norway, is prounced is BEER-git
If you were me (the person narrating the story) and lived in one of these places you find out what your name might be, what kind of food you might enjoy, what city you might live in, and what you might like to do for fun. Gess seemed to enjoy reading about all of these things.
Her favorite of the four books was If You Were Me and Lived in...Norway because she loved the Kirkenes Snowhotel which was made entirely out of snow and ice. While I disagreed with her because I dislike being out in the cold I did agree that it would be cool to see the aurora borealis there. We also liked that your name might be Anne which is how I spell my middle name and part of Gess' middle name as well, Leanne.
Gess enjoyed learning about the other places too. She got really excited to learn that people often ate crepes for lunch in France. We watch a cooking competition show where the contestants often make crepes and she recognized that right away. I guess we will have to try our hands at making them too.
Here is a short video to give you a glimpse of If You Were Me and Lived in...Mexico so you can see for yourself some of the illustrations and learn a little about the purpose behind this series.
The If You Were Me books by Carole P. Roman with Away We Go Media are for ages PreK- 8 years old and sell for $8.99 each. While Gess is 11 and can read above that level because she has special needs I know she still enjoys having books that are easier for her to read on her own. She seemed to enjoy them and did discover something new about unfamiliar places. I liked that about them. To learn more about these books visit the vendor website or see what other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew thought about them by clicking on the banner below.
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