I received two books in the Football Freddie & Fumble the Dog series published by Mascot Books. The books are titled Football Freddie & Fumble the Dog~ Gameday in Chicago and Football Freddie & Fumble the Dog~ Gameday in the Carolinas. Both books are co-authored by Marnie Schneider, who has always been crazy about sports.

Football Freddie & Fumble the Dog~ Gameday in Chicago is also co-authored by Jonathan Witten and illustrated by Agus Pragjogo. Football Freddie & Fumble the Dog~ Gameday in the Carolinas is co-authored by Goldie Grace and illustrated by D Moore. Both books are hardback and full of brightly colored illustrations.

In Gameday in Chicago, we follow Freddie, a young girl who LOVES football, to the windy city of Chicago, Illinois. This is the home of the football team "Da Bears" who she is going to see play. She meets up with her friend Pilar who is going to take her, and us, on a tour of Chicago. Oh, and do not forget her trusty sidekick, Fumble the dog! We got to see skyscrapers, and a HUGE Farris wheel called the Centennial Wheel which is almost 200 feet tall!

We learned lots of neat stuff about the area! Each page has new facts on important or special places in and around Chicago. Some history on all the sports teams that come from that area is also relayed to us! There are quite a few interesting facts about the area such as learning about the Art Institute of Chicago which is one of the oldest and largest museums in the U.S. It has over 300,000 works of art and 30 special exhibitions!

Then after touring the city it is time to eat! Want to try Chicago-style hot dogs or Chicago-style deep dish pizza or how about Chicago mix popcorn? Delicious! After that, we saw the painting of "Soldier Field" which was made to be a memorial to U.S. soldiers who dies in combat.

Now its game time! We get to attend the game with Freddie, Pilar, and Fumble! Learn football terms and different game facts and rules. At the end of the book is a quick recap of the Chicago Facts.

The second book was Gameday in the Carolinas. Football Freddie and Fumble the dog meet up with her good friend Mary to tour the historic places in the Carolinas before going to Charlotte, North Carolina for a Panthers game!

The Carolinas are the North and South Carolina states together. There are a lot of colleges and universities in this area which we briefly touched on. We also learned about various places like the Arthur Ravenel Bridge, the longest cable bridge in North America, and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences which is the oldest museum in the state!

We got a little military history at Fort Bragg, which is where Mary's father is serving. After experiencing the Carolinas, it is time to eat! Check out biscuits and gravy, my favorite, three distinctive styles of barbeque, and some sweet tea.

After all this, it is time to experience another football game! Again, we learned football terms and facts and even have a surprise ending which I will not spoil. At the very end is a quick recap of facts about the Carolinas.

  These are a neat addition to a homeschool program especially if your child loves football! It would also be easy to make a more in-depth study using these as a starting point for researching the specific areas of Chicago and the Carolinas. Each book is listed at $14.95 and is high-quality construction.

-Product review by Jenny Underwood, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, June 2020