Children’s Books by Carole P Roman -- my REVIEW

My children are getting old!  I have one child going into 12^th grade, one going into 10^th grade, and one going into 8^th grade.  Long gone are the days of picture books and story books, read over and over and over again.  (Well, I DO still get that opportunity occasionally when babysitting, but it’s not a part of our everyday life anymore!)  So…why am I reviewing children’s books, then, you might ask?  After 3 children and so many hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours… of reading picture books to and with my kids, I am certainly not a stranger to them!

The books I received for this review are all by the same author, Carole P Roman.  I received four different books, they are as follows:  Being a Captain is Hard Work (A Captain No Beard Story), One to Ten –Squirrel’s Bad Day, If You Were Me and Lived In…Italy, and If You Were Me and Lived In…The Mayan Empire.  Four very different books, and I’m going to tell you about each one of them!  Yay!  J

Okay, the first book is entitled Being a Captain is Hard Work.  This is in a series called Captain No Beard.  You might guess (correctly) that it is a pirate-ish themed book.  Well, it’s about a little boy pirate with a full crew of animals and young children.  The theme of this book is that the captain thinks he knows everything, stubbornly plows ahead, ignoring all the advice from the others, and runs into difficulty before realizing how he has brought trouble on by refusing to listen.  Good theme, right?  One we all (even adults!) need to learn.  I really like that theme!  The book, however, is not a favorite of mine.  It’s kind of cluttered with names of characters who aren’t really introduced, some of the dialogue is childish, other parts sound as if an adult were talking…and I guess (from looking at the info at the end of the story) that they are also trying to teach cloud science (what different types of clouds are).  All in all maybe too much going on.  

The next book is One to Ten, Squirrel's Bad Day.  I didn't really like this book.  The premise of the book is that Squirrel has lost a load of nuts and is discouraged.  The suggestion given by rabbit is that he put a numerical value on how bad something is, and to look for the good that comes out of a situation.  The book is written as if for very young kids.  From my experience, though, if you ask a young child what is a big number, they might say 5.  Or 100.  I'm not sure that it would be feasible to expect a child to give a number value for how disappointing something is.  The redeeming factor to this book, for me, is the illustrations.  They are beautiful watercolor works of art throughout the pages.

  (Here are some of the impressive artworks from the One to Ten book by illustrator Mateya Arkova)

The next book was If You Were Me and Lived In. . .Italy.

This book is a very nicely written book for young kids about Italy.  This would be a great book to 

read alongside a study of Italy or Europe.  It's definitely not a book for a young reader to attempt by him or herself, but a great book to read together with an adult, as a part of a curriculum or separately.  The word sections are varying lengths, but with an adult, this would be a great learning resource.

The final book I got to review was If You Were Me and Lived in The Mayan Empire.   I thought this book is a very valuable resource for ones learning about the Mayan empire of long ago.  The book gives good information in an easy to read, easy to understand format.  I learned a lot about the culture by reading this book!  The illustrations are basic and flat, but the information is very full.  This book would be a great tool in a homeschool curriculum about ancient cultures or world history (or the development of language, or other topics!)  The one thing that surprised me about this book is that this book is suggested for ages 8-14.  I think that's a little high.  My 12 year old read it and thought that though the information was good the book was a bit childish in format for her.  I wouldn't consider using this with an older child.

So -- two of these books I would recommend (the If You Were Me and Lived In. . .   books), and two I didn't care for.  If you'd like to see what others' thought about these books as well as other books by the same author Carole P Roman, please click on the link below!