Have a History Lesson at Home

**Disclosure: I received this product for free in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.**


Definitely excited to try out another book from Carole P. Roman.  I loved her previous book so when I saw an opportunity to grab another I could not resist.  I love building a library of books and educational items for my children.  I know they love it too.

#colonialamerica

I waited patiently for its arrival and when I opened it I was pleasantly surprised.  Right off the top, I saw the illustrations and I had to inspect the book for more.  I have to say, Sarah Wright did a great job with illustrating Roman's story.  The images are big and bold. The color is at times what I consider to be near monochromatic in its hues, with brown and beige, or dark blue and gray throughout the pages. It gives a great representation of the simplistic time period of America during the colonial times,.  The people she drew and the way she displayed the events or lifestyles make the story come alive with the historical value.

#colonialamerica

Overall, I like the purpose of this book.  It offers the opportunity to educate while making reading fun.  Shoot, I learned a few things I have forgotten from school history lessons, and I am sure some of this information was just plain new to me as well.  Off the top, this book throws information at you and questions you.  I think that the questions offer a lot, especially if you were using this in the classroom setting because that is when the teacher pauses and lets the kids share out.  I wish there had been more questions throughout the book because I could see this being a great conversation/discussion starter for classes.  The book offers factual information including information on historical figures, events, and highlights on vocabulary that was unique to colonial times.  Roman offers readers pronunciation help and definitions within the story to ensure they understand the content.  My favorite part to the whole book is at the end, she includes a section with information on influential individuals during that time period and provides a glossary.  I may be a nerd, but that information is so helpful for young readers, to clarify or review what they read.

#colonialamerica

Unfortunately the book is not without flaws.  I felt that the font used throughout a majority of the book not a best choice.  It has narrow areas, making it blend into the dark backgrounds on the pages and may become hard to focus on.  I wish the font has been either bold or a different one that is thicker.  At times, the font runs too far into pictures or on top of pictures and an occasional typo exists.  The paragraphs are much longer than I would have expected. I think self-readers will get lost in the length of the paragraph if they are not slow and patient.  The wording is simple for the most part, but I think in an effort to simplify and give a thorough explanation to the reader, the writing came off as too wordy or awkwardly stated on a few pages.  In the end, those small issues will not deter the reader, as the quality of the story and the information it contains is far more beneficial, and the actual quality of the book material (paper, ink, cover, etc) are top notch.

Overall this is a great book for middle to late elementary students who are interested in learning about history or simply enjoys to read a good book.  I truly think this would also be a great addition to a classroom, where the teacher can use it, or supplement from it, in his or her lesson.  In the end, Roman has done it again, providing quality fun and educational reading material to young ones and I am appreciative that I had the chance to read it, enjoy it and review it.

I hope you have the opportunity to enjoy reading this to your child and learning with them. Happy reading!!

**Disclosure: I received this product for free in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.**

Great Book for Princesses with Big Dreams

**Disclosure: I received this product for free in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.**

So, this cute book headed my way a few days ago - "Can a Princess be a Firefighter?" by Carole P. Roman. I was very happy to receive it, as when I was offered the opportunity to review it, I jumped at it. When you have a four year old daughter who loves her books and this one is talking about being a princess and a firefighter, I knew I could not pass it up.

It arrived and of course her eyes lit up when I gave her the new book. And when we read it, she enjoyed it even more. Books are totally her thing.  And a happy daughter is, of course, one of the best things in the world!

Looking through the book briefly, it seems to be a long story based on page, but I have to say that the book isn't really that long of a read.  The story is created by short rhyming phrases among the illustrations. It is not one of those books that you will try to hide or make excuses for not reading some nights because they go on forever! So we got through the book and here are a few things that you should know...

While the title is about being a firefighter and a princess, the story does not go into that in detail. The entire purpose of the story is to teach little girls they can be whatever they want to be. The story goes through numerous professions that a girl can take into consideration as she determines what she wants to be when she grows up.  We enjoyed reading it, although I will say that some of the words, or professions, used may be a bit much for small children. The professions the author picked are numerous and cover a wide range of interests - teacher, reporter, biologist, judge, just to name a few. Be prepared because you may have to explain some of them if your baby girl is too young to know the words already, and be ready to answer questions about them from those that are old enough to be curious.  It definitely sparks their interest!

The only downside in my opinion was the illustrations. I was not a fan of the pictures throughout. I tried. I really tried. I looked at them over and over. I tried to appreciate the colorful aspect and the visual stimulation it could offer, but it didn't work. While I understand there are many variations of art, and that the style in this book is obviously preferred by the author and illustrator, it just was not appealing to me. Truthfully it appears to be blurry. When I saw the outside, right away I had to look at it a couple of times to determine what was wrong with the pictures. Made me wonder if this was a real rough draft of the book.  I almost wondered if my eyes were failing me. To best describe it, think about when you take a picture or image and enlarge it on your computer to the point that is loses its crisp edges and becomes a big blur of pixels... that is what the illustrations remind me of. To be honest, my daughter did not complain so I know she was fine with the pictures while we read. And she always takes time to look back through the books after I read to her, and this book was no different. She still enjoy every piece of it. So, to end on a positive note with the illustrations, I appreciate that the pictures and colorful aspect do span entire pages, left to right, leaving nothing plain, nothing boring. And my daughter did not seem turned off by them, so it must have just been me.

Overall, I would have to say that the writing and story were well done, and it was an easy and fun read to my little girl. I imagine we will be reading this lots so that she can tell me all about what she wants to be when she grows up. I recommend "Can a Princess be a Firefighter?" simply because I can look past the image quality and still hear the true message of empowering girls and letting them know they can be anything they put their heart and mind to, and that is the most important thing I can do for my daughter.

I hope you find this book a good read and enjoy your time with your daughter, granddaughter, or niece.  Happy Reading!

**Disclosure: I received this product for free in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.**

Educents Makes Sense

Have little ones that have curious little minds and are grasping to learn about anything or everything?  Is it a toddler that just wants to be "in the know"? Or a 6 year old that has mastered blocks, dinosaurs, and coloring and needs more?  Maybe you are an educator that wants new materials to spruce up your curriculum?

I found this site called Educents.  It is a really cool site.  If you like those daily boutiques that sell clothes, jewelry, and home goods, then you will love this site for all their educational items.  It has everything from pre-k to college.  Books, activities, worksheets, toys, and downloads to name a few.

Just recently I ordered my son a cute little farm house book.  It was a wooden book, great quality and an easy toy for him.  I also got my daughter some Clifford phonics books for us to work on her reading skills.  They also have excellent curriculum items that are downloadable to your computer.  This offers so much to the parent preparing their child for school, the parent facilitating their school-aged child, or the parent that is able to home school.  I highly recommend taking a look at their site to see if there is anything your little learners may benefit from in their journey of learning.

If you check it out, please feel free to use my referral link here - as then we can both benefit from all that Educents has to offer!