Review: Zeezok Publishing

Once again one of the resources I have been eying for awhile was given to the TOS Homeschool Crew members for review. And I am absolutely thrilled with this one! Zeezok Publishing puts out a series of books called the Great Musicians Series. Each book covers the life of a classical composer. They carry over ten different books and each also has a study guide and a CD to enhance the study.

The individual books sell for $12.95 (softcover) or $17.95 (hardcover) while the study guides are $4.95 and the CD is $7.95. They also sell "special offers" which combine two books, two study guides, and a CD that covers both composers for $35.80 (softcover sets). I was given the Handel/Schumann set. 

The boys and I really enjoyed these a lot. We are currently finishing up with Handel at the Court of the Kings. We began with Schumann and his Mascott Ziff which covered the life of Robert Schumann from the time he was a boy until he had died at an older age.

The books are very easy to read. The companion CD includes coloring pages for each book which work well for younger students. Inside each book are also sheet music of many of the songs the composer wrote. The CD has pdf files of the sheet music as well as MP3 files so that all the music referenced in the story can also be heard.

I really like the study guides as well. Each one contains a timeline of the composers life. There are then comprehension questions for each chapter with answers and page numbers cited. However, what I really like is that there are character qualities discussed for each chapter. Qualities that the main character (the composer) displayed. For instance, focused and diligence and humility are discussed in the Handel study guide for chapter one.

Tidbits of interest are also listed and vary by book and chapter. For instance, in chapter one of the Handel book, it discusses were the town Handle lived in was located, what his father did for a living, how old Handel was at the beginning of the chapter and more. I found this extremely interesting and they really enhanced the story.

Overall I found these resources to be excellent. I will be looking to adding more of these to our homeschool resources. Oh and one more thing...my boys really liked them too.




*Disclaimer: I was not paid for this review. All opinions shared are my own. TOS Crew Members are given the product free of charge in exchange for our unbiased opinion of the product.