**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.
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| #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.
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| #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.
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| #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.**
