Spanish/English books??
Does anyone know of any fairly simple reads that are in spanish? I love reading and I have been looking for simple spanish books for a while. Any suggestions?
7 Answers
Cajas de Cartón (relatos de la vida peregrina de un nino campesino) it's an easy first read, after children's books. It was required reading in a class I attended. I think they use it in high school spanish classes as well.
The first Spanish book I read (this summer) was written by Julia Alvarez. It's called "Cuando Tía Lola Vino De Visita A Quedarrse". (The words "De Visita"are crossed out in the title.) In the back it says it's "una novela juvenil". I found that it to be a pleasant and fun filled book about a family that has Dominican roots. I bought the book on Amazon.com and I waiting for the sequel to this book to come out. There were quite a few words that I didn't understand, so I created a glossary of all the words, the meanings, and included a sentence in both English and Spanish for each word. If you think you might be interested in reading the book, I will send you my Word file document. Can't guarantee how well I did it though.
If you want something online here's a link to some parallel texts 
Spanish/English parallel texts
Hi Katie, have you thought of trying the library? You can borrow books in Spanish and if they don't work out just go on to something else. I personally ended up reading Agatha Christie in Spanish (although I wasn't that interested in her in English) after you read a couple you get to know the basic vocabulary of the particular writer you are reading and it becomes easier and easier. Short who-dun-its are a great way to get started. I ended up reading most of her books - there are more than 20 for sure and it is a great way to learn. ¡Buena suerte! 
La Ciudad de las Bestias by Isabel Allende ( City of the Beast ). This book is written for the high school level as far as I can tell. I'm reading it now and it's a bit slow going but I'm enjoying reading my first full Spanish book.
You can try Barnes and Nobles
Charlotte's Web is a good beginner book (about 4th grade level) and the Harry Potter series is great (about the 6-7 grade level). They are readily available at larger urban libraries or for very reasonable prices in paperback at amazon.com
