The thing about Spanish bedtime stories is that technically, ANY book you read before bed is… a bedtime story. But sometimes, when your kid has decided that she’s desperately thirsty, she’s afraid of the dark, or she’d rather be in a different bed (i.e. your bed), it’s nice to read something that might make sleep come a little quicker.
These books, with their stories about sleepy characters and illustrations prominently featuring the night sky, will hopefully give your little darling the right idea. That idea being, of course, that she should definitely sleep in her own bed all night long. As my mom would say, “HINT, HINT.”
SPANISH BEDTIME STORIES
In this whimsical story, all of the animals want to know what the moon tastes like. Is it sweet? Or perhaps salty? They just want a tiny bite! One day, tortuga climbs the tallest mountain to try to reach the moon. Since she can’t, she asks elefante to climb on her back and see if HE can reach it. One by one, the animals collaborate with each other in their quest to reach the moon. Will teamwork help them reach their goal?
The Reina Panda has a big problem: she can’t sleep! It’s no wonder she’s in a terrible mood. So her royal advisor (who’s also in a terrible mood, thanks to the fact that he now has to be up all night working) offers a sack of Chinese pearls as a reward to anyone who can get her to doze off. News travels fast and visitors come from all over the world to give it a shot. But nobody—not the shepherd from Mongolia nor the opera singer from Paris—is having any luck! I’m including this book in the Spanish bedtime stories roundup even though it’s really hard to find here in the U.S. because it’s SO beautiful & thematically aligned (we sent it to our Sol Book Box subscribers!).
Aquí estamos. Notas para vivir en el planeta tierra
Author/illustrator Oliver Jeffers wrote this book shortly after the birth of his son, and it’s intended as a sort of “intro to Earth” manual. The end result is a celebration of people of all shapes and sizes, and of the beauty and mystery of our planet. While this book, dedicated to a newborn, is lovely to read to a younger crowd (one line says “you can’t speak yet”), the concepts and illustrations are really great for older kids, too. Lots of space-themed illustrations in shades of blue and purple make it very bedtime-friendly!
This gorgeous book is the perfect bedtime story, with its palette of rich purples, blues and reds. I was hooked from the first line: “Al final del largo día, Madre Cielo llena la tina con estrellas fugaces y llama, ‘¡Hora de bañar a Nochecita!’” Both the images and the imagery are gorgeous, and I really loved the sweet relationship between the mother and her daughter (who insists on a little round of hide and seek before bedtime). This book also won a bunch of awards, ¡muy bien merecidos!
Lucía is a little firefly that can´t wait until she’s big enough to go light the night with the rest of her family. Finally, one night, her father tells her that her moment has come! Lucía is so excited, until she realizes that something already IS lighting up the night, and this round light is so big and bright that her small glow can never compete. Will Lucía la luciérnaga learn how to let her own light shine?
This book, from the same author that wrote Las zanahorias maléficas (one of our favorite Halloween books!) is about Jasper, a little bunny who spots a pair of glow-in-the-dark calzoncillos at the store and wants them desperately. Of course, once he gets home and puts them on, he realizes that undies that glow-in-the-dark are actually… really scary. Will Jasper ever be able to sleep again?
Deep in the hot jungle, a cool, nap-inducing breeze blows. The jaguar has something very important to do, but it would be a shame to waste such a breeze. So he asks the coati to wake him up in 10 minutes. The coati also notices the nap-breeze and asks the cockatiel to wake HIM up in 10 minutes. After a while all of the animals are asleep except for the sloth, who now is responsible for waking everyone up from their nap! Will he win the battle against extreme sleepiness? (The sloth yawns several times in this story, and no matter what time of day I read it, I always yawn for real. #momlife)
ENGLISH BEDTIME STORIES
And here are a couple of bonus English bedtime stories that we also love and I couldn’t help but include:
It’s bedtime, and Mami and Papi are getting the baby ready to sleep, rumbero style: “Mami starts a salsa song./ Papi keeps the beat.” At first the trio bounces and leaps across the pages, but eventually the mood turns drowsy and the music follows the baby to dreamland. Really beautiful illustrations in this book that interweaves Spanish words in English rhymes.
A Big Mooncake for Little Star
This story starts as Mama and Little Star make a mooncake (an Asian treat) in the kitchen. Little Star isn’t supposed to touch it; but in the middle of the night she can’t help taking a little nibble from the edge, another the next night, and so on until the mooncake (or is it the moon?) wanes to a crescent. A lovely and warm book that also helps kids learn about moon phases!
Have you read any of these Spanish bedtime stories? And do you have any other great ones that I should add to the list? If so I’d love to hear about them!
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Thank you for this list
You’re so welcome!