children's books

Carole P. Roman is one of our absolute favorite authors.  We were introduced to the amazingly wonderful Carole P. Roman Books and Collections many years ago through the Homeschool Review Crew.  Every single book we’ve been blessed to read from Carole has been absolutely outstanding!

For this review, we were allowed to choose three of her many books.  I always try to choose things that go along with what we’re learning about or are specifically for Laycie and Jack since they are our youngest children.  This go round, I chose the following:

I chose If You Were Me And Lived In Scotland because I have been searching for titles that specifically teach about Scotland.  I have found that most books focus on Great Britain or Ireland but I wasn’t able to find as many as I hoped on Scotland specifically.   Recently, while tracing our family tree, I have found that we are heavily Scot on both my father’s and my mother’s sides so for me it’s very important that my children learn about this culture so they can learn more about the history of their ancestors.  I love relating our history to our real history.

We were not unfamiliar with the If You Were Me And Lived In series because we reviewed this series from Carole when she first developed and released the series several years ago.  I knew this series was simply awesome and would teach the kids a lot about Scotland and it’s people.  It didn’t let me down.

Through the book, we learned what we may have been named had we been born in Scotland.  We learned that Unicorns are the official animal of Scotland.  We learned a bit about Nessie and Loch Ness.  We learned about traditional foods served in Scotland, some of which we actually tried during the week of St. Patrick’s Day.  Golf was developed in Scotland and the Highland Games.  We look forward to visiting our local Scottish Festival this summer and will briefly review this book before we go.

We learned so much from If You Were Me And Lived In Scotland.  It was perfect for our short study on the culture.  Carole never let’s me down with this series.

Last year we reviewed Fribbet the Frog and the Tadpoles.  Jack absolutely LOVED Fribbet and his story so I knew this year I wanted to review another of Carole’s amazing Captain No Beard series.  I chose Pepper Parrot’s Problem with Patience because sometimes Jack has a little trouble with being patient.  As the baby of the family, you can bet he’s the most spoiled and loved little boy there is, so I thought this book would provide a great lesson for him.  And it has.

A few weeks before we received this book for review, Jack decided he wanted to makeover his bed with a Pirate theme.  I purchased a wooden wheel, a spy glass in a box, a large pirate flag and an a wooden anchor which we painted and hung with a rope on his bed frame.  I also got him his very own Parrot.  Jack loves it!  And he loved reading Pepper Parrot’s Problem with Patience while snuggling in his pirate bed with his Parrot.

Captain No Beard is the captain of the Flying Dragon.  He has one crazy crew of all kinds of characters that help him out, including Fribbet the Frog and his cousin, Hallie.  In this book, Captain No Beard adds Pepper to his crew, making Pepper the crew’s cook.  Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea considering the Parrot is named Pepper.  But maybe Pepper has her name for another reason.

Pepper has quite the temper.  She’s actually a little fire cracker and that temper isn’t the greatest thing ever.  But with the crew’s help, Pepper realizes she doesn’t need to get upset or angry and she can learn to have patience just like everyone else.

This story was so adorable.  Jack truly loved it and he talks about the characters all the time.  We look forward to reading more Captain No Beard stories like Pepper Parrot’s Problem with Patience in the future.

Oh Susannah is a relatively new series from Carole P. Roman.  Last year, Laycie and I read Oh Susannah: It’s In The Bag and we fell in love with Susannah and her crazy life.  Susannah is someone Laycie can really relate to so when this review came up, I knew I’d choose another book from this series for Laycie and I to read.

Oh Susannah: Things That Go Bump was just as silly and fun as the first book we read from the series.  Susannah is always having a rough time, usually of her own making.  This time around, Susannah is invited to a dear friend’s house for the friend’s birthday.  Susannah really wants to go but she’s afraid.  She just knows that her friend’s house is haunted.  Her friend’s little brother has told her so.  Susannah isn’t too sure she wants to see a ghost!

Susannah some how finds the courage to face her fear and finds that she has the BEST time at her friend’s house.  Friendship helps her overcome her fears and Susannah learns not to be afraid.  She also learns that little brothers are sometimes annoying and sometimes great.

Oh Susannah: Things That Go Bump is a new favorite of mine and Laycie’s.  She and I enjoyed reading this one together.  We look forward to reading more from this series.

Carole P. Roman is one of the best children’s authors I have reviewed for.  She truly loves the work she does and it shows greatly.  She’s an inspiration and blessing to all who know her.

You can read our previous reviews on Carole’s other books as well by clicking each of these links:

You can find Carole P. Roman online at: