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:
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
We've recently discovered the wonderful world of Geronimo Stilton
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.
Continue reading "Need a new series for your 3rd-5th Grader? Geronimo Stilton to the Rescue" »
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
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 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.
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
Tintin was the determined and resilient hero of a comic book series
that took him on thrilling adventures around the world â 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 here
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 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
I remember devouring the Bennet Cerf joke books when I was in 2nd grade. Now my soon to be 2nd grader is begining to tell jokes. Los Chistes Favoritios de los Niños is a 9 book series of books just for kids. Amazon customers give these books rave reviews for both their humor and as a novel way of encouraging children to read in Spanish:
Los Chistes Favoritos de Los Niños: 1
ISBN: 9686801405
Los niños también aprovechan la mejor medicina del alma. LA RISA. Y esta colección contiene solamente chistes blancos para los pequeños. Hágalos sonreír y divertirse coloreando los dibujos interiores.
Children also take advantage of the best medicine for the soul - laughter. And this collection contains jokes just for children. Make your children smile and enjoy themselves as they color in the drawings in the book.
