If you feel ready to dive into a novel, there are some great options even for beginner Spanish learners. They’ll provide plenty of reading practice and dialogue for learning conversational Spanish.
English Title: “Rox’s Mission” Author: Laura Gallego
“La misión de Rox,” known in English as “All the Fairies in the Kingdom,” is the third installment in a young adult series. It’s a delightful tale that can easily stand alone from the other two books.
The story involves magic, a fascinating quest and the need to defend civilization. There are monsters, battles, secrets and tests of endurance.
The book is easy to read, although absolute beginners will likely benefit from a translation app or a good Spanish dictionary on hand.
English Title: “Unlucky Detective” Author: Hilario Pena
This is a page-turner that every level Spanish learner will likely find gripping, especially those who like the detective genre.
The story includes a private investigator who finds himself involved in a case with supernatural occurrences. The unsavory characters he meets are both intriguing and revolting.
This exciting read is well-suited for beginner readers since the vocabulary is relatively uncomplicated. There are also cultural references,slang and someintermediate-level passages so you can take note of somevocabulary that’s a bit more difficult.
English Title: “The Little Prince” Author: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Although “El principito” was originally written in French, its simple story and sweet pictures mean that it’s a delight to read in any language.
Some people claim that the alien landscapes described in the book refer to Patagonia in Argentina, as Saint-Exupéry flew over the region many times during his time as a pilot.
It’s a good book for practicing simple dialogue and the past tense. The length is manageable even for beginner learners, especially if you’re already familiar with the story.
English Title: “The Alchemist” Author: Paulo Coelho
Originally written in Portuguese, the Spanish translation of this international bestseller is a good one if you want to read a whole novel in the language.
The story of “El alquimista” concerns a young Spanish shepherd who goes on a quest after having a recurring dream. The lessons he learns can be applied to a variety of life decisions.
Apart from its spiritual message, this book’s main language benefit is that both the vocabulary andgrammar are simple and easy to understand.
English Title: “The Tunnel” Author: Ernesto Sabato
This highly acclaimed psychological thriller was written in 1948 and remains a popular text for teenagers in Argentina today. It has also been adapted for the stage and the big screen.
The plot of “El túnel” concerns a Buenos Aires painter who killed the woman he loved. Castel examines his motives, delving into existentialism and reflecting the author’s characteristic acid pessimism.
This book deals with some tricky subject matter but is a fascinating and thought-provoking read for anyone who wants to challenge themselves.
Ana and her parents live in a small home in California with a run-down car. She envies the lives of her friends, with their flashy cars and a wealth of other things she can only dream of.
Spending the summer with a family in Mexico, she meets new friends and acquaintances and learns that there are more important things in life than a new ride.
“Pobre Ana” is the first of the Blaine Ray series. It has a convenient vocabulary list in the back to assist Spanish learners.
English Title: “Esperanza Rising” Author: Pam Munoz Ryan
This beautiful novel recounts the story of a young girl growing up on a ranch in Mexico who’s forced to relocate with her mother to a farm labor camp in California during the Great Depression.
The story was inspired by Ryan’s grandmother’s personal experiences. It’s been the recipient of several awards and much praise from critics.
At less than 300 pages, this novel shouldn’t be missed. You’ll pick up a lot of greatadjectives and descriptivephrases and it’ll also help you learn Spanishpresent and past tenses.
English Title: “The Imaginary Life” Author: Mara Torres
After being left by her significant other, Nata has to face life anew. The reader follows her through her post-relationship recovery as she grapples with her past and present circumstances.
This is one of the few books on the list not aimed at children or teens and the language used reflects this. However, it’s still simple enough for beginners.
At less than 200 pages long, it’s a good option if you want a simple book meant for adults. Plus, it will teach you a lot of colloquial words and phrases.
This stirring tale highlights the pitfalls of love in the technological era. Xenia is a hardworking student, driven by her goal of studying medicine.
But these goals are set aside when she falls in love with a mysterious boy she meets online. Desperate to find out who he is, she goes on a hunt for information, only to discover a shocking truth.
“Mentira” won the2015 Edebé Youth Literature Award. It’s also only around 250 pages and it’s a vocabulary gold mine for language learners.
English Title: “August’s Lesson” Author: R. J. Palacio
This is the Spanish version of the English novel “Wonder,” which earned several awards and was made into a hit movie starring Julia Roberts in 2017.
The story August Pullman, a boy with a severe facial deformity, as he navigates the difficulties of starting fifth grade at a new school.
It’s a little bit longer than the previous novels on this list but still easy enough for the more experienced beginner. It will help you get a handle on multipleverb tenses and learn a lot ofnew verbs.
Bilingual Spanish Readers
Graded readers are an excellent option for beginner Spanish learners. They typically contain simple stories, use basic vocabulary and often add extras to help learners power up their skills.
This book is an excellent introduction to the wonderful world of reading Spanish stories. The tales are presented with the Spanish story on one page and the English translation on the opposite page.
Many of the stories include common Spanish idioms and uncomplicated vocabulary, but the tales are thought-provoking and engaging.
There’s also a bonus section that highlights vocabulary and offers practice exercises for Spanish learners. The stories are a manageable length, providing great little bites of literature designed for language learning.
This book is a collection of classicfairy tales in Spanish, such as Ricitos de oro y los tres osos (Goldilocks and the Three Bears) and Caperucita Roja (Little Red Riding Hood).
Because the stories are the original texts, some of the Spanish translations might look outdated, though this was done on purpose to preserve the original style.
You’ll get the audio files of each story (270 minutes in total), narrated by both native Spanish and English speakers. These are perfect for listening to properpronunciation and natural speech flow.
Looking for a bit of suspense in your Spanish language books? This author makes the horror genre accessible even for beginners.
This book contains two stories, Espectro (Spectrum) and La Casa (The House), both filled with simple grammar constructions and relevant vocabulary.
The stories are short and sweet—with each sentence no more than 12 words long and each chapter only containing 10 sentences—leaving plenty of space on each page if you want to take any notes.
The stories conclude with a short multiple-choice quiz as areading comprehension exercise.
Suitable for all levels, this is a compilation of 10 contemporary stories from the most celebrated Hispanic writers, including Gabriel García Márquez and Laura Freixas.
Compared to the rest of the books in this category, the content might seem slightly more advanced given that each story is more or less 10 full pages. However, they come with helpful annotations for learner support.
This is a nice alternative for beginners who want to go beyond children’s literature and explore authentic Spanish texts that are way more approachable than the featured writers’ novels.
Carlos Fuentes was a renowned writer in the Latin American world. His short mystery novel “Aura” is sure to keep you engrossed.
The story follows Felipe, a man who goes to work in the house of a widow to edit her deceased husband’s memoirs. While there, he becomes enamored of her niece, Aura.
Much of the story is written in the present tense, so this is a great place to start if you’re still getting a handle on Spanish tenses. You’ll also pick up a lot ofinteresting vocabulary.
English Title: “Big Brown Bear” Author: David McPhail
This version of “El Gran Oso Pardo” is particularly helpful for beginners. You’ll find Spanish translations on every line alongside the English text.
You’ll not only be able to follow the mischievous adventures of our big, brown bear friend, but more importantly, you’ll also be able to see how English and Spanish correlate.
As you read, try to take note of how the two languages compare and contrast. For example, see how theirsentence constructions match up in some ways and differ in others.
English Title: “The Recreation Recess” Author: Rosa Bustillo
This is one of those books that you and your children (or nieces and nephews) can enjoy together.
“El Recreo Recess” is another dual-language book where you get a word-for-word Spanish translation on every page while improving your vocabulary and knowledge of Spanish sentence structures.
It’s available on Kindle, so you can take it with you wherever and improve your Spanish on your own time.
English Title: “Curious George: The Home Run” Author: H. A. Rey
This book from the well-known Curious George series is about how George went from spectator to player on his first trip to the baseball park.
While it’s a fun read, you’ll do so much more than just read a story about a beloved children’s book character.
By the end of the story, you’ll have a real feel for the most basic sentence and phrase structures in Spanish. You’ll see for yourself whatgendered nouns are and how prepositions andpronouns work. And you’ll pick up some Spanish baseball vocabulary.
Children’s Books in Spanish
Spanish children’s books typically help Spanish-speaking children learn their mother tongue. For the same reasons, they’re also great for teens and adults learning Spanish as a foreign language!
English Title: “The Tortoise and the Hare” Authors: Tina Vallès andSigrid Martínez
This is the Spanish retelling of the beloved and well-known classic children’s book. The story has a target audience of 3-5 years old but will bring as much joy to an older reader learning the language.
This fun yet meaningful story is told using basic words and phrases to help build your vocabulary. The short sentences offer beginners a chance to practice reading Spanish aloud, without being faced with long, complex sentences.
The book also features interactive scrapbooking activities for some hands-on learning.
English Title: “Detective Papelucho” Author: Marcela Paz
“Papelucho Detective” is a series of 12 books written between the 1940s and 1970s about an 8-year-old boy named Papelucho.
Written in diary form, the stories detail his everyday life in Santiago, Chile and are based on the author’s own childhood experiences. The books come with lovely illustrations and are packed with useful everyday vocabulary.
As the stories are written from the perspective of a child, the prose is simple and easy to understand. For more Papelucho, watch the 2007 animated film“Papelucho y el marciano” (Papelucho and the martian).
English Title: “Alma and How She Got Her Name” Author: Juana Martinez-Neal
This story is about a young girl learning about her heritage through her name. And with a name like Alma Sofia Esperanza José Pura Candela, there’s a lot of history to be uncovered.
It’s a beautiful story about family and self-discovery. And given that it’s a children’s book, the story is very accessible to beginners.
In the author’s note at the end, she shares the history of her own name and encourages you to share yours. It’s the perfect opportunity for a little writing practice using some of thefamily vocabulary and simple grammar structures from the story.
English Title: “Lucía’s Light” Author: Margarita Del Mazo
This award-winning children’s tale is about a little firefly who’s struggling to light up like the rest of her family. The night comes when it’s finally her time to shine, but something gets in her way.
Suited for kids between the ages of 4 and 6, it’s a gorgeous picture book full of forest vocabulary and animal terms that you don’t often come across as a novice.
You can look up any unnamed creatures in the illustrations to further expand youranimal vocabulary!
English Title: “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” Author: Laura Joffe Numeroff
What happens when a mouse visits your house and asks for a cookie? Naturally, you give him one.
What follows is a funny sequence of causes and effects in “Si le das una galletita a un ratón” and you soon learn that mice are surprisingly demanding guests.
Through repetition of sentence structures, this charming classic teaches the conditional tense and will help you feel more confident using “if” and “then” statements.
English Title: “With Tango There Are Three” Authors: Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
This is a groundbreaking LGBT picture book that stars two proud, papa penguins.
Based on a true story, “Con Tango son tres” takes place at New York City’s Central Park Zoo, where two male penguins fall in love, adopt an egg and raise a penguin chick.
It’s a heartwarming story that will add to your arsenal of Spanish animal words and family vocabulary. It also uses very simple sentences, making it perfect for mid- to upper-beginner learners.
English Title: The Snowy Day Author: Ezra Jack Keats
This simple yet heartwarming story is about a young boy exploring his neighborhood after the first snowfall of the season.
The book won the Caldecott Medal in 1963, making it the first picture book with an African American protagonist to win a major children’s award.
This is a great book for learning the Spanish past perfect tense in an accessible and digestible way due to the relative simplicity of its prose. You’ll come across phrases like el sol había derretido toda la nieve (the sun had melted all the snow).
English Title: “Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters” Author: John Steptoe
This is a beautiful African retelling of the classic Cinderella fairy tale and another winner of the Caldecott Medal.
When the king announces he’s looking for a wife, Mufaro decides both his daughters are great candidates for queen: kind, considerate Nyasha and mean, selfish Manyara. But who’ll win the king’s heart?
There’s much more writing in this book compared to the others on our list, so it’s best suited for advanced beginners or intermediate learners. Expect more past tense, as well as conversational language in the form of dialogues.
English Title: “Are You My Mother?” Author: P.D. Eastman
This has to be one of the most touching mother-child stories in any language.
It tellsthe delightful tale of a newly hatched bird who opens his eyes and doesn’t see his mother. He ventures into the world looking for her, meeting a parade of animals who quickly deny that they’re related.
You’ll have to read the book to find out how the story ends. This one’s perfect for toddlers and Spanish beginners alike.
English Title: “Rabbit and Turtle Go to School” Author: Lucy Floyd
This book tries to give a definitive answer to one of life’s most crucial questions: If a rabbit and a turtle race to school, who will get there first?
There’s a catch, though. The turtle rides in a bus and the rabbit runs, but chooses his own route. So, who do you think will win? Of course, the answer’s obvious.
This is a great book for any beginning language reader that will help you on your road to Spanish fluency.
Graphic Novels in Spanish
Graphic novels typically involve more complex storylines than children’s books, but they’ve still got the useful illustrations and simple dialogue to help you follow along.
English Title: “Gael and the Web of Lies: A Graphic Novel” Author: Ernesto Rodríguez
This is one of three books in a wonderful graded reader series. The series uses a comic book format and the illustrations are fabulous.
Gael is an unlikely hero living a thrilling life. He’s a cat burglar whose adventures take him to Madrid, Mallorca and other intriguing spots.
The series targets beginner-level learners, but anyone who enjoyscomic books will love reading about Gael and his friends. Each book also offers reading comprehension exercises for learners to assess their reading skills.
English Title: “Enola Holmes and the Surprising Case of Lady Alistair” Author: Nancy Springer
This is one of a series of graphic novels that feature the wildly imaginative Enola Holmes—who just so happens to be Sherlock Holmes’ younger sister!
This volume includes Enola Holmes dressed in disguise and on the search for a missing teenager. She manages to keep one step ahead of her more well-known brother throughout the entire story.
The Spanish text is engaging while remaining in classic graphic novel style–short and to the point. And the illustrations are so detailed that they can help you follow along with the story.
English Title: “They Were Taken Alive” Authors: Andalusia K. Soloff, Marco Parra andAnahí H. Galaviz
This fascinating factual account involves the Mexican police and 43 student teachers who disappeared from a college without a trace. The novel relies on interviews and official documents to tell the tale.
The story includes issues that affect Mexico and many other countries, such as drugs, corrupt politicians and everyday citizens who get caught in the crossfire of these issues.
This is a true-life story that you’ll never forget. While reading, make sure you also take note of the colorful cultural references and anyunfamiliar slang.
English Title: “A Wrinkle in Time” Author: Madeleine L’Engle
This Spanish graphic novel is based on the treasured childhood classic and is perfect for beginners.
Even if you haven’t read the original text or seen the movie, the vivid illustrations clearly depict the Spanish translations, so you always have an idea of what’s going on in each panel.
If the plot or certain words are still unclear to you, browse each chapter before reading and look up any unfamiliar words or phrases, then write down their definitions and keep that list handy as you read through the chapters.
Short Stories in Spanish
Short stories are a great way to ease into reading in Spanish without getting overwhelmed. They’re like mini language lessons with plenty of vocabulary and grammar patterns to pick up as you read.
English Title: “Gloria Fuertes’ book for girls and boys: poems, stories and life” Author: Gloria Fuertes
This precious collection of children’s literature features over 100 poems and stories, many of which are beautifully illustrated by acclaimed artist Marta Altés.
The stories are entertaining and the poetry is simple, yet often profound. The book features dragons, bears, little chicks, turtles, kangaroos and many other adorable characters.
Not only will the stories captivate you, but they’ll also help you advance on your Spanish learning journey. While this book is geared towards children between the ages of 6 and 8, adult beginners will also find great pleasure in it.
English Title: “Jungle Tales” Author: Horacio Quiroga
This book of short stories for children was written in 1918 by Uruguayan author Horacio Quiroga. The stories are short, sweet and easy to read.
Quiroga spent many years living in the jungle of Misiones, Argentina and used his experiences to bring the jungle to life in these stories.
This is a world where crocodiles wear banana necklaces and smoke Paraguayan cigarettes, parrots invite tigers around for tea and one lazy bee drinks all the honey to avoid having to work.
If you’re seeking variety in literature, here’s a collection of 20 original short stories that span across genres from romance to science fiction and more.
I recommended having a notebook ready since each is followed by a little questionnaire to see how much you’ve absorbed from reading. The questions are in English, but some require a response in Spanish.
The author also includes vocabulary, grammar and cultural notes to give you a well-rounded understanding of each short story. Each chapter ends with the English translation, strategically placed after the questionnaire.
English Title: “Tales Told by Our Grandmothers” Authors: Alma Flor Ada andF. Isabel Campoy
A homage to family and heritage, this bookis a sneak peek into the rich Latin-American cultures diversified by their African, Arabic, European, Hebrew and indigenous roots.
From a shrewd vixen to cheerful bagpipes, these 12 stories have been passed down from generation to generation: withstanding the test of time, changing landscapes, and finally immortalized in this heartwarming anthology.
This book is extremely helpful for those who want to focus onSpanish of the Americas, although it’s still a wonderful and accessible read for advanced beginners inEuropean Spanish.
This book is for learners who want a“textbook” feel to their reading. The “Easy Spanish Reader” is divided into three parts with exercises between them.
In the first part, you’ll learn all about friends Enrique and Maria while picking up some useful vocabulary. The second part deals with the history of Mexico.
The third section is an adaptation of the Spanish classic “Lazarillo de Tormes” (Lazarillo of Tormes), which is a story about a boy who serves a series of masters that includes a priest and an archbishop.
Reading in Spanish will not only make you feel more confident about your language skills, but it will also expand your vocabulary and help you internalize the language you’re learning. Here are some of the best benefits of reading as a beginner Spanish learner:
You get to see the language written down, as opposed to just hearing it. Seeing the words out on the page will provide you with the opportunity to read the sentences over and over again until you absorb the meaning and retain it in your memory.
Reading will expose you to new vocabulary and grammar structures. Don’t forget to record any new vocabulary you learn as you go along, and don’t give up if there are words or even sections in any of these books you may not understand fully.
Reading lowers anxiety. Reading is probably the most stress-free activity you can do to learn a language. When you read, you’re able to sit back, relax and just take it all in at your own pace.
You can discover new stories you might not otherwise have had the opportunity to read. Not all books written in Spanish are translated into English, so your Spanish skills may be able to help you discover a world you wouldn’t have known otherwise.
If you’re worried that you’re not advanced enough to read a book in Spanish, think again. It’s similar to when you learned to read in your own language: you start with basic books and work your way up to something more advanced. You can also use more structured, interactive reading to build up your skills until you’re ready to tackle books.
How to Pick Spanish Books for Beginners
Reading Spanish books for beginners will help you to transition into the language more easily if you pick a book that’s well-suited to your specific interests and level. Your perfect Spanish book should be:
An achievable length. Don’t aim for “Don Quijote de la Mancha” (“Don Quixote”) on your first try. Think about the book length you’d normally read in English, and divide it into half the size.
Level-appropriate. Ideally, you should understand roughly 70% of the words on the page. If you’re not sure, try reading the first page before you buy the book. If you can grasp the idea, more or less, that’s a good start! If you want to familiarize yourself with reading in Spanish, it might be a good idea to choose a book you find fairly simple, to help ease you into the reading habit.
A story that interests you. The same goes for reading in any language. If you’re not into the story or subject, you’re unlikely to see the book through to the end. This is perhaps even more important for reading in Spanish. Try to find a story that you like, or you’ll end up frustrated and bored.
Reading the books on these lists will work well if you’re a tactile learner, but there are also numerous digital language learning options to choose from if you want to learn on the go.
For example, the learning program FluentU has a built-in multimedia flashcard system to study vocabulary. The program mostly works with authentic videos like movie clips, commercials and news segments, allowing you to see new words in context.
Since the program has accurate subtitles, you’ll get reading practice from keeping up with the video—though you can pause the video at any point, interact with the subtitles for definition info cards and replay isolated sentences.
There are also dual-language transcripts, vocabulary comprehension quizzes, multimedia flashcards and review quizzes that adapt to your learning.
So, find a nice space to sit back and enjoy the above mentioned Spanish books for beginners, while learning this beautiful language and progressing your fluency.
Savor that feeling of satisfaction once you’ve read through the whole book in Spanish, and be proud of yourself!
If you've made it this far that means you probably enjoy learning Spanish with engaging material and will then love FluentU.
Other sites use scripted content. FluentU uses a natural approach that helps you ease into the Spanish language and culture over time. You’ll learn Spanish as it’s actually spoken by real people.
FluentU has a wide variety of videos, as you can see here:
FluentU brings native videos within reach with interactive transcripts. You can tap on any word to look it up instantly. Every definition has examples that have been written to help you understand how the word is used. If you see an interesting word you don’t know, you can add it to a vocab list.
Review a complete interactive transcript under the Dialogue tab, and find words and phrases listed under Vocab.
Learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentU’s robust learning engine. Swipe left or right to see more examples of the word you’re on.
The best part is that FluentU keeps track of the vocabulary that you’re learning, and gives you extra practice with difficult words. It'll even remind you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. Every learner has a truly personalized experience, even if they’re learning with the same video.
