If you were me and lived in... Australia: A Child's Introduction to Cultures around the World

We love to travel. My kids can’t wait to travel the world. My son wants to go see “Thomas the Train” and my daughter is convinced she can make it to some imaginary island that only she knows the directions to. For now though, we’ll travel the world from the comfort of our living room couch.

“If You Were Me And Lived In…Australia” by Carole P. Roman will take you on an journey of discovery to the land down under. This is another installment of the “If You Were Me And Lived In…” Series.

Ms. Roman introduces us to the Australian culture. I love how she takes facts about the country and presents them in a way that excites the reader into wanting to learn more. My daughter loves to use these books as a launching pad to learn more about different cultures.

We enjoy learning about our similarities and differences between our cultures. Just today my daughter and I were talking about how some names are more popular in some areas than others. We learned that many of the names are the same as many of our friends here in Canada!

Ms. Roman has taken the time to create a Pronunciation Guide. As you read the through the book many of the words have the pronunciation key in parenthesis after the words so that you can sound it out as you are reading it, without having to turn to the official guide at the back of the book.

The illustrations are bright and colourful. They will help your child visualize what is talking about. I do wish that a couple of them were a little more detailed, but ultimately they are illustrations for kids and my son and daughter enjoyed looking at them. Their favourite pages were the underwater scenes.

“If You Were Me And Lived In…Australia” is a gentle introduction to Australia. We learned about favourite foods, money and even what they call Mom and Dad. The book helped my children learn that even though we can be oceans apart we are all basically the same.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my review. All opinions are 100% my own.