If you’ve been around since the beginning Sol Book Box days, you’ll probably be unsurprised to hear that I love a good subscription service. That’s kiiiind of why I founded one!
And I have to say, I have tried several of them in my day– you know, for market research purposes :). But also because they make me so happy! Getting something fun in the mail every so often is just the best, ¿que no?
I was thinking about Book of the Month, which is one subscription I REALLY love and that I had been meaning to share about this month, since March is National Reading Month. And then I figured that if I was telling you about that one, I might as well tell you about some of the other ones I’ve been enjoying in case you’re in the mood to treat yourself (or your kids).
So! Here are 5 subscriptions I love: two for me, and three for the kids!
FOR ME
Book of the Month – I signed up for Book of the Month wayyyy back in the spring of 2020, thinking it would be a fun little mood-booster while we were pandemic-ing. To be honest, prior to that I didn’t buy too many books (for myself– books for kids, well, that’s a whole other story). I figured, that’s what the library is for! But I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to get to pick a BRAND NEW book every month and not have to wait in an outrageously long hold line for the library copy. Plus, now I always have great books to lend or give as gifts, which also makes me very happy. I can’t prove it because I didn’t keep track of my reading until last year, but I’m pretty sure that I do a lot more reading, too, because I always have a beautiful book I’m excited to read. AND (have I convinced you yet?), Book of the Month books are about half the price you’d pay normally. Wins all around.
MommaStrong – I’ve talked about this one before, but it’s another long-time subscription for me. I think I’ve been subscribed to this exercise program for the entire life of my youngest child! The founder, Courtney Wyckoff, is not only experienced but also extremely relatable. She’s a mom who doesn’t have hours to exercise, just like the rest of us, and sometimes finishes a workout while holding a baby, haha. Her workouts focus on core and pelvic floor strength, and also on “functional fitness” (read: preparing moms to do all the squatting, lifting, and crawling you actually have to do when running after young kids). ALSO. The workouts are 15 minutes long, which I love because even in my busiest seasons I can convince myself to do them. Right now I’m doing her “Momma-to-be” program for pregnant women, but I’ve done her “New Momma” program for post-partum, and love the regular “Momma D15” one, too.
FOR THE KIDS
Sol Book Box – I mean, obviously :). Sol Book Box was acquired in 2021 and I have slowly been transitioning to a smaller role under its new ownership, but I still 100% vouch for the power of libros en español in raising bilingual children. One cool thing is that Sol Book Box now has a few different options, depending on where your kids are in their language journey! The “Amor Box” for babies has board books, the “Sol Box” is perfect for Spanish learners, and the “Book Box” is the classic subscription that sends one hardcover book in Spanish for kids who are already fluent. If you haven’t checked out the new(ish) website, take a look around!
Kiwi Co – This is another phenomenal subscription for kids. We got all of our kids a year-long subscription as a Christmas gift this year, and it makes their day every month when they show up. My 7-year-old gets the Kiwi Crate, which she loves and can do on her own. My 4-year-old and 2-year old both get the Koala Crate, but they each get a different one every month that’s more personalized to their specific age. I love that this subscription makes me feel like I’m the type of mom to look up/plan/prep/purchase all the stuff to make these cute crafts and projects (because… I am not.) KiwiCo honestly has a crate for everybody (STEM, cooking, art, and geography, with options for babies to adults) and they’re all SO well done. That link is a referral link (just a regular person one, not an “influencer” one), and you get $10 off your order if you use it.
Little Poppy Co – For the girl moms of the group! I feel like bows really had a moment a few years ago, and all these bow-making small businesses really took off. I think bows are maybe not such a big thing now? But I have to say that nothing brings me more joy than seeing all my daughters bien peinaditas, and preferably with an adorable bow or two. (Tell me you’re a mamá mexicana without telling me…) I had this moment a few months ago where I was doing my daughters’ hair and realized that their bows were looking kind of sad. I decided that if ever there was a time to address the bow situation, it’s now while they’re all still little and will actually wear them! This subscription sends you 3 bows a month and they are BEAUTIFUL and really well made. Another referral link for you – if you use the code BFF5 at checkout, you get your first month of bows for $5, which is an amazing deal!
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I’d love to hear about any subscription services you love! I think they’re so fun to give as gifts (I gave my mom a subscription to FabFitFun last year for Mother’s Day and she got a big kick out of getting her box every quarter!).
I’m a HUGE podcast listener, and love to turn one on while in the car or at home doing housey things. Now that my kids are old enough to appreciate podcasts themselves, I’ve become very invested in finding the Spanish podcasts for kids!
I like to turn these on while we’re all in the car— especially during long road trips, but also when we’re doing school drop-offs or errands (although lately my kids demand the Encanto soundtrack every time we’re in the car, soooo…). Podcasts are also PERFECT for quiet time, since the kids can play with Magnatiles or Legos or paint or do other quiet things while they listen.
And, confession? I have also been known to put on a podcast during dinner when my husband Josh is out of town and I’m really tired and just need everyone to eat and let me eat in mostly-silence. Magic!
Below is my list of the best Spanish podcasts for kids, divided by type of podcast! Pretty much all of them are best for kids with a solid level of Spanish, but I did find a couple that are perfect for Spanish learners.
Podcasts are such an amazing way to boost kids’ exposure to Spanish, so don’t sleep on these great options!
I will confess right now that this is one podcast we haven’t listened to, but that’s because it’s aimed specifically at Spanish learners who are beginners. I’ve heard wonderful things about it though! I sampled a couple of episodes so I could write this little summary, and the audio is mostly English, introducing small bits of Spanish vocab through music and games. I think this is an AMAZING option for kids who are just starting with español! So far, there are two full seasons, with more episodes currently in production.
This podcast could technically also be under the category of classic stories and fairytales. However, because the audio is very clear and spoken more slowly than lots of other podcasts, I think it would be great for Spanish learners who are pretty advanced but not quite 100% fluent. Each episode is 10ish minutes long, and the episodes are introduced in English by the storyteller’s son (who also gives vocabulary words to listen for throughout the episode, and reviews them afterward).
My kids love listening to this podcast! And I am also a big fan of these “magical stories,” which include many traditional fairy tales (Hansel and Gretel, the Princess and the Pea), and also plenty of stories I had never heard before. Looks like they stopped recording in 2020, but the good news is that there are 50 episodes! Each episode is short-ish (between 10-15 minutes long), so we blew through them pretty quickly and are on Round II of listening. The narrator has a definite Spanish accent (as in, from Spain), which I thought was fun for my little mexicanitas to become familiar with.
This podcast has been around for a while, so even though the last episode produced was in 2020, there’s quite a backlog of episodes to enjoy! The podcast itself includes stories, fables, and jokes for kids to listen to in Spanish. As for the stories, it’s everything from classic Aesop’s fables to traditional fairy tales and even some made-up stories by podcaster Gastón Morineau. This one feels a little more like a radio show than some of the others, because the podcaster will often give shout-outs to listeners that write or call in!
This is another great collection of stories! The podcast also features beautiful music and high quality audio, as well as shout-outs to kid listeners that leave voicemails at the beginning. The podcast started off with a season of “spooky stories” about a little ghost, which I’m saving for the kids to listen to next October I think.
This is a fun children’s book-based podcast with high-quality music. It’s a great one for short car rides, because the stories are on the shorter side (between about 3-10 minutes). This podcast features several books that we’ve read before, but even more that we haven’t! I LOVE this podcast because I’ve read a lot about the amazing benefits for kids of listening to audiobooks (here’s one study, por ejemplo), but of course it’s kind of tricky to find audiobooks in Spanish. The last episode was produced in 2020, but hopefully they come back and if not, there’s a good backlog!
This podcast is created by the Spanish publishing house Editorial Hola Monstruo, and is based on read-alouds of their books. The hosts Mariela, Alexandra and Israel recommend books they love, as well as movies for the whole family. Some episodes are read-alouds, while others are retellings of their favorite movies. This is a podcast with longer episodes (10-30 minutes usually) and the format is basically parents reading aloud a book to their child (with a lot of child participation/response).
Listening to this podcast kind of feels like listening to a children’s book on CD (or… whatever people use these days instead of CDs). And that’s because dominicana writer and storyteller Anya Damirón loosely reads us her favorite books (she doesn’t stick exactly to the text). This one has a lot of music and sound effects throughout, which makes it very engaging and perfect for younger kids especially.
I think this podcast is so wonderful! Allegro Mágico is a podcast created by a mamá mexicana who wanted her daughters to learn about classical music. Some episodes are a deep dive into a composer (Tchaikovsky, for example), while others feature stories accompanied by classical music or simply famous classical music pieces. I have to admit that my younger daughters aren’t quite as captivated by some of these episodes as I am (maybe because they do feature longer segments of classical music in between the story/talking); perhaps best for older listeners or to have on in the background while younger kids play or do other things. The music is so beautiful! Episodes are 10-20 minutes long.
This podcast sadly only has 7 episodes, but I was so excited to find it for my insatiably curious 7-year-old. Host Molly Bloom and a child co-host (the kids have varying levels of Spanish, la verdad) find the answers to some of life’s most interesting questions in each 30 minute science-based episode. This podcast is a translation of the English version, and sadly it looks like the project didn’t get very far, but this is still a nice little series for an older kid.
Comments Off on Books in Spanish for Valentine’s Day
Happy febrero! I’m a big fan of this month, mainly because 1.) it’s when I met my husband and 2.) it’s also when my oldest daughter was born. Aaaaand the weather in Phoenix is phenomenal right now, which helps February’s rating tremendously.
If hija #1 hadn’t been born on Valentine’s Day (which is now 100% eclipsed by her birthday), I would be very into celebrating Love Day, too! I mean, all things pink and chocolate? What’s not to love!
And since we don’t do much for actual Valentine’s Day anymore, what with all the birthday festivities, an easy way to still give a nod to the holiday throughout the month is with some great books that celebrate all things amor, besos, y abrazos. Here are some family favorites in case you’d like to check them out!
(I’ve also included links to purchase from Bookshop if I found the books there! I love that every Bookshop sale supports local bookstores, and it’s always nice to have options.)
Board Books in Spanish for Valentine’s Day
El pez pucheros by Deborah Diesen, illustrated by Dan Hanna and translated by Teresa Mlawer
El pez pucheros is always pouting, despite all his friends’ advice on what a well-mannered face SHOULD look like. But one day a stranger helps him understand that his pout isn’t a bug; it’s a feature! Because it turns out a pouty mouth is VERY good for bestowing fish smooches. (Excellent excuse to also smother your little one with human smooches!)
A little boy and a little girl are best friends, so when the little girl moves away, her friend will literally climb mountains and cross oceans to find her. Being reunited never felt so good! I have to say that I find the ending of this book kind of weird for a baby/board book. (They get married? Like, can’t a boy and a girl just be friends? It feels very “When Harry Met Sally.”) But the illustrations are lovely and it’s a cute little story about friendship and love.
Two little mice take turns telling each other how big their love for one another is: bigger than one bear! Taller than two giraffes! Heavier than nine hippos! A sweet little counting story made out of collage illustrations for the littlest loves.
Picture Books in Spanish for Valentine’s Day
Siembra un beso by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrations by Peter H. Reynolds
A girl decides to see what would happen if she plants a kiss. Little does she know that from that small act of love, joy and happiness will blossom! The text is very sparse, with single words or short phrases to describe what’s happening, which makes it easy to zip through this sweet book. The Spanish version unfortunately loses most of the rhymes from the English version, but even so it’s a favorite!
¿Qué es el amor? by Davide Cali, illustrated by Anna Laura Cantone
¿Qué es el amor?, Emma wants to know. So she asks her flower-loving mom, her soccer-loving dad, her expert-baker grandma, and her car-obsessed grandpa. She gets four very different answers, but when she puts them all into practice, she discovers that there are all kinds of different ways to express our love for someone else!
Mónica loves to paint things, but she’s never tried to paint a kiss. What color is it? Is it maybe yellow, the color of joy and sunshine? Or green, like veggies? (No, concludes Mónica, because she’s not much of a fan of vegetables, unless we’re talking about artichokes!). Each page is dedicated to a color and lists some things that Mónica likes and dislikes that are that color.
Peludo is a great big monster that is always in a bad mood. He scares away the little rapónchigos with his growls! But one day, a brave rapónchigo decides to try something nobody has ever tried before: being nice to Peludo! It turns out that respect, love, and a few hugs and kisses can cure even the worst mood.
All kinds of monsters populate this vibrant book: hairy, tall, horned, and stretchy! But one thing they all have in common is how much they love each other. This book includes interactive questions and quizzes, so it’s probably best for older elementary students with a decent level of Spanish.
A classic book that I’ve recommended before! This book is mostly about different feelings, and how we can classify our feelings by color (red for anger, yellow for happiness, etc.). But in the end, after the little girl helps our monster figure out and organize his feelings, he gets a new one: it’s pink and full of hearts! What could it be?
Abrazo de Oso by Susana Isern, illustrated by Betania Zacarias
Natuk, a young Eskimo girl, and Oso Blanco have been inseparable friends ever since Natuk rescued the tiny orphaned bear as a cub. But when a terrible catastrophe strikes the village, and Oso Blanco is blamed, Natuk is afraid they will be separated forever– unless she can do something about it! This book is a tender tale of friendship and loyalty, and a good example of the powerful love between humans and animals.
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And there you have it, 10 sweet books in Spanish for Valentine’s Day, perfect to read on February 14th and all year long!
For the first time in my life, this year I decided to start tracking the books I read. I had never seen the appeal, but now I do! I tend to read really quickly, and then almost immediately forget a lot of what I read. Being able to see the list of books is not only helpful for remembering the details of those books, but also helps me remember the books I loved or that struck a chord.
And it also is very helpful for making “best of” lists, it turns out! So, in case you’re looking for some great reads in 2022, I thought I’d share the 10 best books I read in 2021. I had a hard time narrowing it down and was tempted to make it a “15 best books” list, but I heroically chopped some books after all.
About half of these were 2021 new-releases, and the other half are older books that came my way for whatever reason. Hopefully one or a few of these will call your name!
(Also: I’m trying to be better about including trigger warnings for each book I recommend, but have a hard time remembering when a book needs them and for what (see: aforementioned memory issues). So, this is me doing my best, I hope I get them all!)
If I had to pick a favorite, this would probably be it. I just looked and this one doesn’t actually release until Jan. 4, 2022 (I got an early copy through Book of the Month), but I HIGHLY recommend grabbing it in the new year if you get a chance! Olga and her brother Prieto are high-profile New Yorkers: he’s a congressman, she’s a wedding planner for the super wealthy. It’s their background as hijos of their radical Boricua mom (a former Young Lord, who left them to be raised by their grandmother while she fought for la causa in Puerto Rico and beyond) that was the most interesting to me, though. I LOVED how this story weaved family secrets, political corruption, activism, a little romance and The American Dream™. I also appreciated how the novel is so rich with Puerto Rican culture and history– I learned a lot!
(TW for vulgar language, (implied) rape & sexual assault, death of a parent, drug use)
Libertad González is serving a prison sentence in Mexico, where the rest of her fellow inmates have revealed (sometimes proudly) the reason they’re locked up. Libertad, however, can’t find a way to share her story until she opens a random book from the prison’s library and begins to “read.” Thus the prison club de lectura is born, where each week Libertad unfolds the next installment of her life story while turning the pages of random books. Born and raised on the road with her father (a former professor of literature who fled Mexico after a frightening experience in his past, to become a trucker in the U.S.), Libertad is a tremendous character that I fell completely in love with. And honestly I could say the same for a lot of the other eccentric female prisoners! I read this in Spanish which I HIGHLY recommend, but if that doesn’t appeal it’s also available in English as “Gonzalez and Daughter Trucking Co.” The storytelling in this one!
(Another TW here for misogyny, violence, and death)
When the book starts like this: “It was her idea to tie up the nun,” you know it’s going to be good. It’s the story of a Colombian family—half in the U.S. and half in Colombia—and I loved the way this book highlights so many different immigration experiences: a deported father, an undocumented mother, kids raised in the U.S. with and without U.S. citizenship, and a U.S. citizen raised in Colombia. Besides the fact that it was a joy to read such a nuanced immigration story (which is no small thing), the writing is incredible! (The mom in the story muses that her daughters, one born in Colombia but raised in the U.S., the other born in the U.S. but raised in Colombia, are like “repotted flowers, creatures forced to live in the wrong habitat.”) And though the author doesn’t shy away from writing the pain, overall this story is a gorgeous portrayal of hope and one family’s commitment to each other (that I couldn’t put down and blazed through in a couple of days).
(TW for sexual assault/rape and I think also alcoholism)
This book tells the story of Beatrice Fox, aka Bea. After she “ruins” the life of her younger sister Emmy, she goes for a tearful drive and gets in a car accident and… dies. But the story doesn’t end there! Instead of ending up in heaven or hell, she’s sent to purgatory (which in Layoverland is… a giant airport). To atone for her sins on Earth, she’s tasked with a role as part of the Memory Experience team, where she has to help 5,000 people resolve whatever issue is holding them back from moving on to heaven. Of course, one of the first people she’s paired with is a fellow teen named Caleb. It turns out, he’s the dude that crashed into her. And as much as she would love to see him suffer instead of helping him reach the pearly gates, in true YA fashion, a blossoming romance complicates things. This was a perfect vacation rom-com.
I had been meaning to read Just Mercy for a couple of years, but because I knew basically what it was about, it took me a while to get to it and also quite a while to get through it during YET ANOTHER pandemic year. It’s a heavy book, but I’m also so glad I finally read it. If you haven’t heard of this one yet (or watched the movie version), it’s a powerful story about the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) and Bryan Stevenson, the lawyer who founded it. Just Mercy tells the story of the early days of the EJI, when the organization was just getting started defending the poor & the wrongly incarcerated. I learned so much about mass incarceration and the death penalty in the U.S. (I also cried multiple times, but hopefully understand better what kind of reforms are needed).
I thought the premise of this book was really interesting: a “Speculative Western,” set in an alternate version of old-timey ‘Merica. It’s 1894, and in this imagined version of U.S. history, a woman’s fate is tied to her ability to bear children (to replace the enormous number of deaths from the Great Flu). And while Anna, the protagonist, has a bright future as an apprentice midwife, after a year of marriage with no baby, she has to flee everything she knows in order to avoid being incarcerated or hanged as a witch like all “barren women” are. She ends up joining the notorious Hole in the Rock Gang, a group of women and gender-fluid outcasts that have banded together as outlaws. This book was billed as super feminist, but it’s definitely not of the intersectional feminist variety (leans pretty “straight white feminist” IMO). I did find it very entertaining though!
Listen, you already know I love a good book about immigration! Following three generations of Cuban women from Cuba to Miami to Mexico (and a few places in between), this book is short-ish but really packs some powerful meditations on how immigration shapes the lives of our mujeres. While Jeanette battles addiction in present-day Miami, her Cuban immigrant mother Carmen tries to figure out how to help her (while also fiercely guarding the family secrets that made her leave Cuba in the first place). We also get the stories of Jeanette’s family members in Cuba, from her tatarabuela María Isabel rolling cigars in 19th century Cuba, to her present-day cousin. And a few chapters are dedicated to little Ana, the Salvadoreña neighbor Jeanette brings into her home after her mom is detained by ICE. If you’re thinking that’s a lot of storylines to pack into ~200 pages, you’re right; but author Gabriela Garcia writes her characters so generously that the lives of all of these mothers and daughters feel rich and true. Well worth the read!
My cousin sent this one along and it was just the perfect book to read over summer vacation! Willowdean, aka Will, is the self-proclaimed fat daughter of a beauty pageant mom. She’s always been at home in her own skin, has zero interest in the beauty pageant life, and is happiest hanging out with her all-American beauty of a BFF, Ellen. When Will gets a new job and meets Private School Bo, a hot jock, she’s surprised to find that he’s as into her as she is into him. It weirdly freaks her out, so she decides to reclaim her confidence by entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant (inspiring a lot of other unlikely candidates to do so, too). Lots of Dolly Parton songs and references in this book, which just added to the awesome. This one is also a movie, apparently!
Do you want to go on a road trip? Then pick this one up! It’s 1954 in Nebraska, and 18-year-old Emmett Watson has just finished his time at a work farm for accidentally killing a boy that was bullying him. His only family is his 8-year-old brother Billy, since their mom is long gone and their dad recently deceased. Emmett’s plan is to pick up Billy and head to Texas to make a new life there. But when the warden drives away, lo and behold, two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden’s car and have a very different plan for how the next few days, and their own “fresh starts,” should look. Enjoyed this one so much I passed it on to my dad! Amor Towles is a very talented storyteller.
Last but not least is this giant! It took me a while to get into the story (and even longer to get through all ~800 pages), but once I did I was hooked. In 1936 NYC, the Arenas sisters & their mother have just migrated from Spain to join their father, who after years of sailing the world doing random jobs to support his family, has settled in New York and decided to run a restaurant. But almost immediately after they arrive, papá Emilio is killed in an accident, leaving his family to try to figure out a way in this new world. The sisters–Victoria, Mona and Luz–were super unhappy to leave Spain in the first place, so as you can imagine this new development is extremely unwelcome. I’ve loved Maria Dueñas’ previous books and so enjoyed reading about the Arenas sisters’ dreams, adventures, disappointments and feisty fight for survival in this one.
(TW for sexual assault)
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Et voila! The 10 best books I read in 2021! I didn’t mean for this post to be soooo long but apparently I have a hard time summarizing books I loved. If you end up reading any of these, let me know what you think!
P.S. How to read more books, in case you need to make space in your life for reading before picking any of these up!
Comments Off on Thanksgiving Books in Spanish and English
Thanksgiving is a holiday that I definitely grew up with, thanks to my American grandma who always made sure we watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV & ate plenty of apple pie.
But because we celebrated in Mexico, I had only a cursory understanding of the actual Thanksgiving story. And it was definitely a very white-centric version, a one-sided one that wasn’t inclusive of indigenous voices and experiences.
So needless to say, Thanksgiving is still something I’m learning about (I found this essay, a Native perspective on Thanksgiving, very enlightening). And of course, I want to do what I can to make sure my kids’ understanding of Thanksgiving is broader than mine was.
Also I would like books that accomplish this in Spanish, please. Is that so much to ask? 🙂
Unsurprisingly, there aren’t really thaaat many Thanksgiving books in Spanish. Which makes sense, as it is a holiday only celebrated in an English-speaking country. But! Below I’ve listed some favorite books that celebrate gratitude, immigration, and even a couple of specifically Thanksgiving-themed ones in Spanish.
And I’m also including some favorite Thanksgiving books in English! So my dear bilingual friends, I hope you can find a new title or two to read as a family before the pleasure of eating all of that delicious food.
I love this book so much! Omu, an Igbo grandmother, has prepared a delicious soup for her dinner. So delicious, in fact, that the smell spreads throughout her neighborhood and invites many people to her door to sample it. I love her generosity in feeding those around her, and also love that they all share with her in return. This story is so perfect for a holiday about joy and celebration surrounding a feast.
This bilingual book is a list of a young boy’s simple pleasures and things he is thankful for. While it’s not a book specific to Thanksgiving, the author does encourage young readers to make their own list of things they’re grateful for. (Some of the things the boy is thankful for reminded me of my hija #3 (2), who told us she was grateful for “cheese sticks” as her contribution to our Thankful Turkey this year, haha.)
Ok, stick with me here– technically this book is not about Thanksgiving, but it IS about immigration, and about the beautiful gifts immigrants bring. And what is Thanksgiving if not a story about U.S. immigration? I love this beautiful book so much and will take any excuse to read it, any time of year.
I think this book may be out of print, because the only working link I could find to purchase it is from a bookstore in Guayaquil, Ecuador. But if you do happen to come across this title, it’s a silly, Thanksgiving-themed twist on I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. It’s an easy book that is great for discussing sequencing!
I bought this book just this year, and it’s for sure one of my all-time favorites from this list (see: years and years of watching the Macy’s parade with Grandma on Thanksgiving morning). Balloons over Broadway tells the true story of the creator behind the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The illustrations are sweet and phenomenally well-done, and even though it’s a children’s book you can tell it’s extremely well researched. LOVE.
You already know I will read and love anything Juana Martinez-Neal creates! This is such a sweet story of a modern Native American family, and what fry bread means to them and their family history. I love that it brings in food and family & shows a variety of indigenous tribes.
We moved to Arizona (from Utah) in the middle of winter 11 years ago specifically to escape the snow. Reading this book is the ONLY time I am even slightly tempted to live somewhere with snow, which I think is a real testament to how gorgeous it is! This picture book is a beautiful winter-y book to display all season long.
This gorgeous book focuses on the word “otsaliheliga,” which is a Cherokee word that means gratitude. The story focuses not just on one celebration of gratitude, but a full year of gratitude and celebrations. It’s a perfect Thanksgiving read!
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I hope you have a beautiful Thanksgiving this year! It’s truly one of my very favorite holidays, porque nunca está por demás to take a minute or two to consider all of the beauty around us.
A few days ago, I did a poll on Instagram—Halloween: “love” or “eh”?
Every single person who answered the poll hit “love” except for one (and I think that might have been a mistake).
So if you, too, are a Halloween lover, I’m happy to share three new-ish books en español to read all through this spooky month (and beyond!). Our family loves all three of these great Halloween books in Spanish!
On a dark night in Transylvania, a little vampire is ready to give someone the scare of their life. If he does, he will pass the test at Vampire School. If he doesn’t, he will be banished to Banana Peeler School! So when he sees a little girl walking alone, he tries his tactics on her: “¡Zoy un vampiro peligrozo!” The little girl is… not very scared. But when she sees how much this means to him, she decides to help him out.
Mo Romero loves nothing more than cooking and eating vegetables. But his parents, who prefer things like “deditos en salsa” or “pata-tas” don’t understand why he can’t just eat their healthy food like a regular zombie! So our little vegetable enthusiast decides to concoct a delectable veggie gazpacho for his parents and give it a zombie rebrand. Will Mo’s parents “give peas a chance”?
This witch is hopping mad. Her hair, instead of being a witchy color like green (boogers!) or red (blood!), is a distressingly cheerful shade of blue. So to prove how very witchy she is, she decides she’ll do something truly terrible, like kidnap a kid at the park. When she sees Nicolás playing with (what she thinks are) dolls he stole from his sister, she’s found her victim. Will the witch become the witchiest of all, or will she find the path to radical self-acceptance instead?
You can see all of these great Halloween books in Spanish, plus a few other favorites, on this little Instagram reel I just made! Now is the time to look these up online or at the library, so you can enjoy them all month long!
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The author Gretchen Rubin has a podcast called “Happier” that I like very much. One of the segments in her podcast is what she calls a “know yourself better” question. Sometimes it’s hard to see ourselves clearly, or to understand why we act the way we do. So Rubin and her co-host (and sister!) will ask a question like, “What types of activities energize you?” and then the listener can pick which ones resonate: learning, or parties, or creating, or whatever the case may be.
I’ve been thinking about this recently, because in all these years of working with parents in the U.S. raising bilingual children, I’ve noticed that most fall into three main bilingual parenting types. If I were on the Happier podcast, I would ask you to decide which of these you would answer “yes!” to:
1. Do you want to speak Spanish at home with the kids but haven’t quite gotten started? Is your bilingual parenting theme song “I Have a Dream” from Tangled (“I have a dream, I have a dream… Like everybody else, I have a dream.”)? Do you and/or your partner speak Spanish, but your kids don’t (yet)?
2. Do you have a family language plan that your family is on board with? Do you speak plenty of Spanish at home already? If bilingual parenting was a high-school graduating class, would you be voted “Most Ambitious”?
3. Do you live a Spanglish life and speak Spanish when the mood or inspiration strikes? Do you follow your kids’ lead and speak whichever language they’re speaking? Did you speak more Spanish at home when they were younger, but now mostly speak English?
READ ON TO FIND YOUR BILINGUAL PARENTING TYPE:
If you picked #1: You are LA SOÑADORA. Your kids aren’t currently bilingual but you can envision a reality in which they are, and you might need a little help and guidance to get there!
If you picked #2: You are LA EXPERTA. You have a genuine passion for raising your kids bilingually and you know exactly what to do and how to do it!
If you picked #3: You are LA AVENTURERA. You go where the day leads you, linguistically speaking. You have an idea of what you want to achieve, but sometimes life leads you down a different path. You’re great at following your intuition but might need some structure to make sure your kids hear and speak plenty of Spanish!
What do you think? Did any of these resonate with you?
This theory is a work in progress, so let me know if you felt one of these is your type and if so, which one!
Pretty much my favorite thing in the whole wide world is a good book list.
But then, you probably know that about me already.
And summer is an ESPECIALLY crucial time to have great reading options available! To me, nothing says “vacation” louder than a stack of wonderful books just waiting for me to read them.
(The other day my husband and I went out of town for three days to celebrate our anniversary and between the two of us, we took 7 BOOKS, which was… excessive. But did feel VERY vacation-y!)
So today I thought I’d share some great books I’ve read and recommend for your summer reading list—all written by Latina authors! I was so happy to find that it wasn’t difficult at all to find several recent books by Latinas in multiple genres to include in this guide, which gives me great hope for the future.
I just think it’s the worst when book lists are filled with new-releases that you have to wait 100 years to get from the library, so although “Dominicana” is actually only a couple of years old, it should be fairly easy to get your hands on this one. Ana Canción was never one of those dominicanas who dreamed of moving to the States. But when Juan Ruiz (a man twice her age) proposes and promises to take her to New York City, she has to accept the opportunity to move away from the place where hope for a better future is ever-dwindling; not just for her, but for her whole family. This was an incredibly insightful portrait of what it means to be an immigrant in America, and once again, beautiful writing by Angie Cruz.
This book hooked me from its very first line: “It was her idea to tie up the nun.” Ahh! This 2021 release about a Colombian family—half in the U.S. and half in Colombia—is just so, so good. I loved the way this book highlights so many different immigration experiences: a deported father, an undocumented mother, kids raised in the U.S. with and without U.S. citizenship, and a U.S. citizen raised in Colombia. And though the author doesn’t shy away from writing the pain, overall this story is a gorgeous portrayal of hope and one family’s commitment to each other (that I couldn’t put down and blazed through in a couple of days). Besides the fact that it was a joy to read such a nuanced immigration story (which is no small thing), the writing is incredible! Highly recommend.
Fantasy is not usually my first choice, but I picked this one up because A) my friend Madison said it was really good and B) I wanted to have a few different genres represented in this book list. And I have to admit, a couple of times when I was reading, I’d look up and be like “I am reading a book about werewolves right now…” But then the story was so engrossing, I’d shrug and pick it back up. Props to Romina Garber for crafting an excellent story that weaves magic, social commentary, immigration, Argentine folklore and bilingualism! As a not-YA, I’m not the target audience for this book but I still read it in two days and will absolutely read the sequel, coming out this August!
I read a review of this book that described it as “kind of like a Jane Austen novel with a splash of telekinesis thrown in,” which IMHO is spot-on. Antonina “Nina” Beaulieu is a fish out of water, sent to the city of Loisail to stay with her cousin and his wife, Valérie, who is supposed to oversee her first Grand Season where she will hopefully find a husband. When she’s drawn to Hector Auvray, a performer who shares the same telekinetic abilities she has, it becomes clear she’s been dropped straight into a world she’s both ill-prepared and ill-fitted for. This is a classic love triangle with several twists, and while it is slower-paced (especially at the beginning), it’s just a very easy romance to read. I blazed through it in a couple of days at the beach, and it was just a perfect light vacation read. Solid writing by Moreno-Garcia, who apparently never writes books in the same genre twice!
Originally I picked this book up because Quiara Alegría Hudes (along with Lin-Manuel Miranda) wrote the excellent musical “In the Heights.” TBH I didn’t know anything else about it, and was very pleasantly surprised by the gorgeous writing of this book (what else would you expect from a prize-winning lyricist, though, right?). I especially loved all of the unapologetic and unexplained Spanish in Hudes’ coming-of-age story as a half-Jewish, half-Puerto Riqueña growing up with her Santera mom in Philly. Warning that there’s quite a bit of swearing and some strong thematic elements to this memoir!
If I haven’t yet convinced you to read something by Isabel Allende (honestly my life’s mission), then just go ahead and start with this absolute CLASSIC! This book is magical realism perfection, and follows the Trueba family through four generations, from post-World War I Chile through the Pinochet coup which overthrew the Allende government in 1973. Written in masterful prose by Isabel Allende, this book is (with good reason!) one of the most important and beloved Latin American works of the twentieth century. Whether we’re reading about ethereal Clara and her violent husband Esteban; their daughter, Blanca (and her forbidden love for a man named Pedro Tercero); or granddaughter Alba, a beautiful and ambitious girl who wants to usher Chile into its revolutionary future—Allende grips us in this sweeping saga. (TW for some strong thematic elements including rape and abortion.)
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Feliz verano and happy reading! Hope one or more of these books by Latinas is calling your name!
I’ve known since before I was a mom that reading aloud to my kids was very important to me. I think I’ve done a good job so far! While my parents also read a lot to us as babies and young kids, I don’t think we read aloud together beyond picture books. Once my brothers and I learned to read, they turned us loose and made sure we had plenty of books TO read, but not necessarily with them.
Maybe because of this, I felt a little lost when it came to finding chapter books to read aloud with my growing daughters. The chapter books I remember are the ones I read to myself, and they were basically all in English.
Thank goodness for the internet! So grateful for the people working hard to make sure our older kids here in the U.S. have access to great books en español. I’ve gathered all of the Spanish chapter books for preschoolers we’ve read together, arranged from simplest to most advanced. We alternate with English books!
By the way—if you’re wondering when kids are ready to listen to chapter books, I can share our experience. I started reading these aloud to my hija mayor a few months before she turned 4, which was perfect for her. Hija #2, two years younger, would occasionally listen in; but wasn’t REALLY interested in these longer stories until this year (she’s also newly 4). There’s no prize for moving on from picture books super early, of course. The most important thing is for reading to be fun, not frustrating! But in my experience, any time between 3.5 – 6 years old is a good place to start. And you can always go back to picture books if chapter books aren’t working).
I bought this one recently thinking it would be good for my oldest (6) ¡pero le duró un suspiro! I would definitely categorize this book as an easy-reader (big text, lots of illustrations), so it’s perfect for emerging readers. My 4-year-old and I also read it together and it was great for her. This series, about a spunky Pakistani American girl, has a few books in it, which is always nice! I also appreciated the little glossary at the back, and I think each book has different craft and recipe ideas (this one has facts about Pakistan and instructions for building your own cardboard building).
Disclaimer that our copy (from Amazon) was NOT very well printed (there were several parts where whole sentences ran together into one giant word with no spaces). That unfortunate fact aside, my daughters were very into this story of Princesa Magnolia, who is summoned by her monstruo-alarma while having tea con la chismosa de la Duquesa Pelucatiesa. Gotta love a spunky, monster-fighting heroine! This one also has very big text and lots of illustrations, though it’s a little longer than the “Yasmin” ones.
Valentina is a princess, but she dreams of hunting dragons just like her brothers do. She is NOT excited about creating elaborate hairstyles or wearing fancy dresses like her sisters. So even though she’s supposed to stay home, when a fierce dragon threatens to eat the children in the kingdom, Valentina sneaks out behind all of the knights to conquer the beast. Will she defeat the dragon, or is she better off leaving dragon-hunting to the men? This book was originally written in Spanish which is always a plus! And we all really liked it. 🙂
A Beverly Cleary book I had never heard of! This story, about little mouse who meets a boy staying at his hotel and starts riding his toy motorcycle, is so cute! My oldest daughter and I read this one together a year or two ago and it was the first one where she was just on the edge of her seat, asking me to read another chapter. The translation was well-done, too; although one thing about reading translated chapter books is that, in my admittedly limited experience, they all do read like translations somehow. I feel like that’s not always the case for translated picture books—just something about those longer stories I guess.
Another (very famous) Beverly Cleary hit! I’ve heard the Ramona series is phenomenal & gets even better after “Ramona la chinche” (“Ramona the Pest” in English). I need to hunt for the other books in the series in Spanish! This book, in which Ramona starts kindergarten, was perfect to read together in the months before my oldest started kindergarten. (Which she never did, lol—thank you COVID—but this book did help her get excited for school.)
We LOVED the first book we read in this collection of stories about Domingo, a Teporingo rabbit, who lives with his friends in El Refugio. I heard these books described as “similar to the animal worlds created by A.A. Milne, but reimagined in the mountains of Mexico,” and I think that summary is perfect. These charming stories are a perfect little escape (especially true for us during the pandemic). We read “Invierno” a few months ago, and writing this post reminded me that I need to pull out “Primavera” to read (we’ll do one each season this year)!
This was the very first chapter book I attempted to read with a then-3-year-old. We ended up having to put it down for many months and come back to it later because the story was a little hard for my daughter to follow. Like I said, no prizes for moving on to chapter books too early! Once we DID pick it up, she loved the story just like I hoped she would. Reminder that this book starts off with a rather detailed conversation of wanting to kill little Wilbur the pig! I forgot that small detail and wasn’t mentally prepared the first time around to discuss animal slaughter with my small child, haha.
I remember reading this one as a kid! It was so fun to see my own kid love every crazy, magical part. I think Roald Dahl’s brain must have been quite a fantastic place. Most of his books are wonderful, but I think this is probably the one with the most kid-appeal. (I mean, endless amounts of candy…)
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As always, I hope this list is helpful! I think it’s so important to continue giving our kids access to reading material in Spanish as they get older. And to be honest it’s been challenging for me! Our library doesn’t really have Spanish chapter books for preschoolers like these. So I hope this roundup can help someone in the same boat. And I would love to hear your suggestions if you have any!
Comments Off on Two Beautiful Spanish Poetry Books For Kids
A few years ago, I wrote a post all about some favorite Spanish poetry books for kids (it’s one of the most popular posts on this blog!).
But since then I’ve discovered MORE beautiful Spanish poetry books, so in honor of National Poetry Month this April I thought I would share a couple of them here.
Early on in the COVID pandemic, I read one homeschooler’s impassioned article in defense of “Poetry Tea Time.” I knew my kids would get a kick out of at least the tea cups and the snacks, and while I was fully prepared for them to be less excited about the poetry, it’s actually been really sweet how much they love it. We’ve adapted this practice to just general “fiesta de lectura,” (any book will do!), but when I remember to pull out poetry books I feel very virtuous and pleased with myself, haha.
We have the kindle version of this one, and while I wish we had a hardcover (team paper books forever), it’s kind of nice to be able to pull out little poems on the go. (Not that we go places these days (#pandemic) but soon!) During the month of April I’m trying to read a poem (with the kids or by myself) each day, and who better to read than one of the most important Spanish poets and dramatists of the 20th century!
This book (divided in sections of animals that are “voladores,” “acuáticos,” “reptadores” and “rugidores”) is also so wonderful! The rhymes are fun, and very kid-friendly. The vocabulary in this book is also fairly simple, so it’s a good one for younger kids and beginning readers. This one has really interesting illustrations all done in collage!
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I hope this is helpful! I’m excited to really dive into poetry this month and I’m always happy to include the kids, too. And as always I’d love to hear about any of your favorites!
P.S. Here’s that earlier roundup of poetry books in Spanish again, in case you’d like to see some others we’ve loved.
