SIPAPA Reads! Best Spanish Books for Kids

Vampires oh my!

Crepúsculo (Twilight) (Twilight Saga)

Author: Stephenie Meyer

What's hotter than vampires these days?  Vampires in Español of course.

When Isabella Swan moves to the gloomy town of Forks and meets the mysterious,   alluring Edward Cullen, her life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. With his porcelain skin, golden eyes, mesmerizing voice, and supernatural gifts, Edward is both irresistible and impenetrable. Up until now, he has managed to keep his vampire identity hidden, but Bella is determined to uncover his dark secret. 

Description in Spanish: ''Hay tres cosas de las que estoy completamente segura. Primera, Edward es un vampiro. Segunda, una parte de el se muere por beber mi sangre. Y tercera, estoy total y perdidamente enamorada de el''. Cuando Isabella Swan se muda a Forks, una pequena localidad del estado de Washington en la que no deja de llover, piensa que es lo mas aburrido que le podia haber ocurrido en la vida. Pero su vida da un giro excitante y aterrador una vez que se encuentra con el misterioso y seductor Edward Cullen. Hasta ese momento, Edward se las ha arreglado para mantener en secreto su identidad vampirica, pero ahora nadie se encuentra a salvo, y sobre todo Isabella, la persona a quien mas quiere Edward.

Despereaux

Title: Despereaux
Author: Kate DiCamillo
ISBN: 8427932588
Reading Level: Ages 9-12

We love love love Despereaux.  My 3rd grader had a slow start but once he got into the story, it was a race to the finish.  This is the first real novel he's read and his enthusiasm to tell me what just happened in each chapter was tremendous.

Of course my son was motivated to read the book because of the movie trailer:

Camaleón - Series Books for 12 yrs +

Title: Camaleón
Author: Nacho Docavo Alberti
Colección: Barco de Vapor Roja
ISBN: 9788467502992

Summary:
Nico is fifteen years old and works alongside his family, as a trapeze artist at the Star Circus. One day the Grand Naurm appears at the circus, an elderly magician who "instead of disappearing, appears." The relationship between Nico and Naurim becomes very close, but things get complicated and Naurim has to leave abruptly, but not before leaving his friend the secret of his magic: the Chameleon Skin, with which Nico saves the circus from closing its doors.

Resumen
Nico tiene quince años y trabaja, junto a su familia, como trapecista en el Circo Estelar. Un día aparece en el circo el Gran Naurim, un anciano mago que "en vez de desaparecer, aparece". La relación entre Nico y Naurim se hace muy estrecha, pero las cosas se tuercen y Naurim tiene que marcharse repentinamente, no sin antes dejar a su amigo el secreto de su magia: la Piel de Camaleón, con la que Nico logrará descubrir a unos ladrones de cuadros y conseguir una recompensa importante que servirá para que el circo se salve de cerrar sus puertas.

There are five books in the Camaleón series:

Camaleón y la Gondola Dorada, ISBN: 9788467503012
La Guarida de Camaleón, ISBN: 9788467503036
Camaleón en las tumbas de Menorca, ISBN: 9788467503005
Camaleón y el Complot en Los Balcanes, ISBN: 9788467503029

Need a new series for your 3rd-5th Grader? Geronimo Stilton to the Rescue

We've recently discovered the wonderful world of Geronimo Stilton.  Always on the look out for a good long series (having exhausted Casa de Arbol and Capitan Calzoncillos), the Geronimo Stilton series of books (up to 33 with more coming out next year) is a funny, punny, fast paced set of chapter books with great illustrations and playful typography. 
The Spanish is accessible and the vocabulary is rich but not obscure so kids will be able to easily figure out the words within the context of the sentence.  There's a little bit of of the vosotros  (-ais/-eis) but not enough to be inpenetrable. 

Who is Geronimo Stilton?

Geronimo Stilton is the international bestselling author of the Geronimo Stilton chapter book series --- and he's a mouse! His United States publishing company, Scholastic, calls him a VIR (Very Important Rodent) and hails him as a big cheese.

RSS Feeds for the newest Spanish Children's Titles from Amazon!

Amazon has a terrific RSS feed that you can subscribe to for hot new releases in children's books in spanish.  The ?tag=sipapa-20 means that SIPAPA gets commissions on your book purchases!  Copy these RSS feed into Yahoo or your favorite RSS Reader:

For Elementary School Readers

Hot New Releases In Books: Infante y juvenil (all ages updated every hour) 

http://www.amazon.com/rss/new-releases/books/301735/ref=pd_nr_rss_link?tag=sipapa-20

Hot New Releases In Books: Infante y juvenil ages 4-8 (all ages updated every hour)

http://www.amazon.com/rss/new-releases/books/301739/ref=pd_nr_rss_link?tag=sipapa-20

Hot New Releases In Books: Infante y juvenil ages 9-12 (all ages updated every hour)

http://www.amazon.com/rss/new-releases/books/301740/ref=pd_nr_rss_link?tag=sipapa-20

Hot New Releases In Books: Infante y juvenil SERIES books ages 9-12 (all ages updated every hour)

http://www.amazon.com/rss/new-releases/books/308194011/ref=pd_nr_rss_link?tag=sipapa-20

For Middle School and High School readers:

Hot New Releases In Books: Infante y juvenil ADOLESCENTS (updated every hour)

http://www.amazon.com/rss/new-releases/books/301741/ref=pd_nr_rss_link?tag=sipapa-20

Guide to Barco de Vapor Books

El Barco de Vapor is a publisher's imprint  of children's books in Spanish.  They carry a mixture of original spanish language books as well as translated titles such as Captain Underpants.  The website is completely in Spanish and the catalog provides summaries of the titles in Spanish as well.  Unfortunately you cannot purchase books directly from the website.

The Barco de Vapor series is color-coded.  You'll notice the color on the cover of the book.  Each color indicates the recommended age range:

Serie Blanca (white) - new readers

Serie Azul (blue) - 7 to 9 year olds

Serie Naranja (orange) - 9 to 12 year olds

Serie Rojo (red) - 12 years +

Easy Crossword Puzzles for 4-8 year olds

Easy Spanish Crossword Puzzles
ISBN 0486274527
Publisher: Dover
Reading Level: Ages 4-8

As children fill in the correct Spanish word in this mini-treasury of 25 six-word crossword puzzles, they'll enjoy all the fun of puzzle-solving as they build their basic Spanish vocabularies. With fun-to-color pictures of each word, an alphabetical list of Spanish words with their articles, English translations and solutions.

Spiderman en Español

Ultimate Spiderman: Doble Problema
ISBN: 9871215010

The story focuses a lot on how Peter Parker became Spiderman. the story is also told in how someone, like Peter Parker would act in our century. Instead of working as a photographer at the Daily Bugle, he works as a web designer. Usually, in the older comics, the story on how Spiderman got his powers would be explained in one or two 20 page comics. Now, as a graphic novel, they can do more. Definitely a read for Spiderman fans.

Available through: Amazon

More Comic Books - Tintin!

Tintin was the determined and resilient hero of a comic book series that took him on thrilling adventures around the world — and on some voyages not quite of this world. Actually, though Tintin is not as well known in the U.S. as in Europe, his distinctive tuft of ginger hair and Hergé's no less distinctive drawing style will ring a bell with many Americans. Appearing from 1929 to 1982, the series took Tintin to the planet's most exotic places to confront all sorts of danger, treachery and political machinations, with an emphasis on the fast-paced visuals of trains, planes, cars, bombs and other new technologies. (Source: Tintin and I)

Both Amazon and Last Gasp Books (do a search on Tintin Spanish) have a wide selection of Tintin comic books in Spanish.  Below are a random sampling of Tintin on Amazon.  Click hereto browse the entire Amazon selection.

El Cangrejo en los Pinzas de Oro/The Crab with the Golden Claws
Herge
ISBN: 0686543351

On a visit to his friends the detectives Thomson and Thompson, Tintin recognizes a piece of paper torn from the label of a can. Earlier in the day Snowy had found the can with the rest of the label attached on the street. The label shows a picture of a red crab on a golden background and is evidence in an investigation into counterfeit money...

Available through: Amazon

We love Star Wars comic books

We went through an intense Star Wars phase last year and I was desperate to find Star Wars material in Spanish.  I found some novels that nearly killed me as I tried to read them out loud to my son - both the vocabulary and the vosotros (after all these books were originally published in Spain) left us exhausted. 

Fortunately, the Star Wars comic books & graphic novels came to the rescue.  Pictures + text (still that vosotros but hey, it's preparation for Spanish Lit).

Last year I read them to my 6 year old son; this summer he's reading them again on his own.  The suggested age range is 9-12 year olds.  Check them out:

Star Wars: La Guerra De Los Clones Adventuras Volume 1 (Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures Volume 1)
ISBN: 1593075804

Dark Horse is making this title available in Spanish language for the first time! New stories of heroism and villainy inspired by the Cartoon Network's Clone Wars cartoons, with the same stripped-down visual style in a 96-page digest format!

Available through:     Amazon