Greece

Blastoff! Readers: Exploring Countries

by Jim Bartell

This ancient country is considered the birthplace of Western civilization. Tourists can walk on the grounds of the first Olympic Games, see the mythical Mount Olympus, and visit the Acropolis of Athens, where people gathered thousands of years ago. Hear all about Greece and its traditions, from old to new, in this informative title.

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Kiki · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting. There are pictures of some of their food, and the food looks soooooooo good! I want to try gyro (one of Greece's most famous foods, it includes meat, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and feta cheese stuffed into thin pita bread...and it looks AMAZING....I WANT SOME RIGHT NOW), and greek salad (lettuce, tomatoes, olives, cucumbers, onions, and feta cheese with olive oil dressing.) They commonly use olive oil as salad dressing. During the holiday season, they eat special honey cookies (which looks yummy too) called melomakarona. Overall I think the best part of the book was the food, school, and the holidays, the rest was a little boring.

[Dad · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book. I did not know that Greece had 2000 islands and that Crete was one of them. It borders on Turkey, Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Albania. The Minoan civilization was at one time on Crete. Bears, deer, and boars roam the forests. There are a lot of sea creatures including sperm whales. There are 10.5 million people in Greece. 65% of the people work in the service sector.

[Terry]

Simple text accompanied by pictures of Greece. Good for early readers interested in the Greek country, its people, history, and environment.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty good, but I wish it had been more detailed. It didn’t get as involved and detailed as I would have liked, but then again this is for kids.
I've only read one book on Greece, and that was more on the different isles, so I was glad to read more on Greece as a whole, and a bunch of different topics about the country.
It covered the basics of Greece, like the geography, history, wildlife, people, daily life, school, work, food, and holidays. It only brushed over each topic, so I'd still like to read a more in-depth book on Greece, but this was good for what it was.
It had a good balance of pictures and info. I liked the fun facts and little Did You Knows on the pages.

[AMY · Rating 5 out of 5]

32 pages. Another great book in the Exploring Countries series. Format and information is excellent. Great photos, charts and additional information at the end. Great job! I have traveled to Greece and feel this book does a very good job of explaining the basics. I learned a lot from reading it. Highly recommended Gr. 4 and up.

[Kylee Myers · Rating 2 out of 5]

This ancient country is considered the birthplace of Western Civilization. This book describes everything there is to know about Greece; its location, the landscape of the country, the wildlife residing there, its people, and its holidays. This informational piece does really well in describing all of the aspects that make Greece the place that it is; it even mentions the religious practice of the majority of the people there.

This country in unfamiliar to a lot of American children, and the vocabulary is different in some aspects. The book is written in English, but it uses words, such as isthmus, that students probably won’ understand. This would be a great book to use to try and expand the vocabulary of your students. There is a glossary for assistance if needed, but students can use this text to practice using context clues as they read, for they will run into many words that they will not comprehend.