Carole P. Roman’s If You Were Me and Lived in . . . series takes kids around the world. The paperback book is packed full in its 26 pages. If You Were Me and Lived in . . . Brazil covers facts about the country, told in an interactive way.

The book incorporates words in Portuguese with pronunciations. It shares names of cities, lakes, and your possible name if you lived in Brazil. Traveling to the mercearia, you buy your groceries. You visit the rainforest and learn about the animals as well as the importance of keeping the rainforest safe. Brazil has some wonderful sounding foods, and great sports. This is a well-rounded picture book for $10.99.

The illustrations combine actual photographs with drawings, giving it a 3D effect. I really appreciated the uniqueness of the illustrations, and I think that also drew the kids in. Illustrations of the kids in Brazil were on each page.

We were using a homemade unit study on Brazil that I put together. The kids’ dad had traveled there twice on a business trip and had such fun stories to tell when he got back from Sao Paulo. This book was a great go-along to our study, especially with the use of several Portuguese words. We read the book a couple of times during the study. Some of my favorite parts were the description of foods, making it easy for me to look up Brazilian recipes. I previously mentioned the illustrations, and those were certainly a favorite as well.

I think the size of the book is great for elementary-age children. Though the Internet is forever changing, I would have liked to see some links to additional kid-friendly information on Brazil. This would allow this book to be used as more of a spring board to going deeper into the study of Brazil.

This series has been a great addition to our geography and world culture studies. With over 16 books in the series, you can enjoy living around the world through literature.

-Product review by Melanie Schemanski, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, July 2017