If You Were Me and Lived in… Turkey by Carole P. Roman Review

Reviewed by Gemma Berkul

I was excited to receive the book ‘If You Were Me and Lived in… Turkey’ to review, as my daughter (age 4) is half Turkish.

Her Dad is originally from Marmaris in Turkey although he has lived here in England for the past 20 years. She calls him Baba (daddy in Turkish) and it was great to read a book which has so many aspects she is familiar with about the Turkish culture and language etc… It was a great opportunity for her to embrace this part of her life. I could tell she was proud and pleased to see so many familiar things in the book and she enjoyed learning new Turkish words too. When her baba got home she couldn’t wait to share the Turkish name for school and baby with him as she wanted to make him proud.

Although this was a special book for my daughter and I, as we could relate to it, I would fully recommend this book to everyone. Carol P Roman had cleverly written an eye catching, factual account of this wonderful country. The book is not too long but long enough to learn so many facts. Children can learn about many aspects of Turkey including key information about the food that Turkish people eat and what they call their parents. They can also learn about the favourite national sport, the national holiday and the money they use.

I have taken the book into school so my daughter’s class teacher can share this with her class. You can tell Carole P Roman was a former teacher as she has got everything about the book just right- the illustrations and the content!  I think the book is an essential asset to all classrooms (especially being a primary school teacher myself) as it does an excellent job of introducing children to different cultures and countries. I would buy the whole set of these books for my classroom to share with the children. Especially if any of the children were from the countries in which she has written about. Older children could use this resource to help them write and research a favourite country and share with their class.

All in all I would give this book 5/5. As well as what I have outlined above I think the illustrations are simple but bright and eye-catching and the print is easy to follow. It is written in a format that is easy to understand and the content is fun and interesting. A great opportunity to discover interesting facts- very educational and engaging. A perfect book to learn about Turkey!

Rating: 5/5

RRP: £6.99 (paperback)

Available to buy from Amazon here.