If You Were Me and Lived In Ancient Times -- Multicultural Monday Review

Disclosure: Carole P. Roman sent me these books for free in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Today I am going to share three of the books in Carole P. Roman's If You Were Me and Lived in ...Ancient Times Series. This series looks at ancient and historical cultures from all over the world and through many centuries. Today we are going to travel to Viking Europe, Renaissance Italy and Colonial America. We will start with If You Were Me and Lived in Viking Europe. It is illustrated by Mateya Arkova.

What was life like for a Viking boy? This book tells what it might have been like for a boy growing up in Norway with a Viking father. It explains about the terms Viking, Norse and Scandinavian. It tells about the societal classes as well as some of our words that came from the Vikings' language (like pennies). At the end of the book there are some Norse gods as well as important Vikings in history and a glossary. 

Things I like in this book is the language. There are pronunciation guides for the larger words. I love how the book takes the view of a boy but shares what the girls live was also like. There is so much information that explains the culture and life. It goes into so many details and in a way that kids can truly understand. 

Our next book is If You Were Me and Lived in Renaissance Italy. This one is illustrated by Silvia Brunetti. This one is Hazel's favorite of the three (perhaps since her father's family is from Italy). In this book the life of a young girl is looked at with explanations of how it is different for boys. The young girl lives in Florence. This book shares what life would be like for a merchant class family in Florence during the Renaissance. I love how it describes the clothes, activities, houses and the changes that were occurring during this time. The details in these books are amazing even down to how the people ate. The food eaten is also shared. It is really so informative and in a manner that the kids can read and understand.

Our final book for tonight is If You Were Me and Lived in Colonial America. This one is illustrated by Sarah Wright. I love this one even though it is not an ancient culture per say. There is so much information about colonial times around, but the details and the method of this book is wonderful and unique. This book starts in England and follows a family to the Netherlands and finally onto the Mayflower and into America. The book goes into the details of why the Pilgrims left England and how it all occurred. The descriptions are easy for kids to understand and what life was really like. It includes details about building the houses and what life was like there. There are the details of food and the role of the Wampanoag. It goes through the first Thanksgiving and what the children learned. 

Each of these books have pages of important people from that culture as well as glossaries. The illustrations go with the stories and the details are amazing and clear for kids. These books are a wonderful look at these historical cultures for kids. I hope you will check them out. For even more Carole P. Roman books check out our reviews of Oh, Susannah: It's in the Bag, and the Captain No Beard Series.