Valencia is the third largest city in Spain, after Madrid and Barcelona. Founded as a Roman colony in 138 BC, it got its name from the Romans. (The city¿s name ¿Valenciä means strength and Valor, honoring Roman soldiers.) The middle ages saw the invasion of the Germanic peoples and overtaking by the church which changed Roman buildings into religious buildings. The city then surrendered without a fight to invading Moors in 714 AD. In 1238, King James I of Aragon, with armies of Aragonese, Catalans, Navarrese and crusaders from the Calatrava order, laid siege to Valencia. On September 28, the city surrendered. A mixture of Jewish, Christians and Muslims were all allowed to remain in the city as history moved forward. What we have today is a beautiful city filled with art, culture, diversity and a lot of fun things for a kid to see and to do!

You can see some of what award winning author, attorney and former teacher, Penelope Dyan and photographer, John D. Weigand saw on their visit to Valencia, Spain, as you turn the pages of this ¿learn to read¿ book filled with word repetition, word recognition and rhyme. Then, to see even more of this city, you can watch the free music video that goes with this book that you can find on the Belissimavideo YouTube channel.