Short Stories in Spanish for Beginners

(Written by the wife!) First, I took my hubby's account--he's not into Spanish so much, but I am! As a life-long lover of the language (I took classes in high school and college), I picked up this book because, while I love the language, I've only recently begun to take learning it seriously. The Good: This book gives you realistic (semi-interesting) stories that focus on basic words and phrases. This was great because I was able to ACTUALLY understand around 85-90% of the story. It really sucks when you spend more time translating than reading :-(. The Great thing about this book is the intro on HOW TO READ this book effectively--please don't skip that! The focus is more on finishing the short chapters than knowing every word: believe me, using this method you will look up fewer words, and feel more accomplished as a reader. It really is the best strategy I've ever used for reading a text in another language. Since each chapter comes with a quick quiz (I gave up on those quickly, they were less fun and my comprehension was already solid) and a summary. I love the summaries and would often read the previous chapter summaries before I started the next just as a quick review. It's really important to note that this book does a great job of giving you tense switches that feel realistic. Saying "I went to this cool store yesterday, do you want to go with me and then we will eat lunch somewhere else?" sounds easy, but that's three tense switches in one sentence! This book helped me get WAY better at this by having realistic scenarios where the language is used naturally (not like my pal Duolingo.com where all the sentences are isolated). The Cons: I couldn't find a lot as a person who was craving what amounts to "grade level texts" to read. The stories are sometimes silly--but the point is to understand them and get through them--if you want complex, rich literature--you have to read the silly stuff first! There were some words that I had to look up that weren't actually in the glossary at the end of each section--even though they were tough enough (non-high frequency) that I thought they should have been added. But again, when you read the goal should NOT be to understand EVERY word, at first. Basically, if you want a book that will build your confidence as a reader, expose you to the most basic words and phrases in the language, plus give you a bit of a challenge (the last story gave me a workout!), then I think this book is well worth the $15 or so dollars. I totally ate up the book, lol. I will be buying #2 and then the intermediate series before trying my hand at a REAL book. They're worth the money if you want to REALLY learn the language :-)

I see a lot of comments from people saying that this book is not for beginners. It shows CEFR level A2-B1 (high beginner to low intermediate). I tested at level A2 and this book was PERFECT for me. I understand about 75-80% of what I read, but it still gives me a challenge and teaches me new words, idioms, and grammar. I'm halfway done with the book and decided to test my CEFR level again. I tested at level B1. This book has helped me improve my spanish comprehension pretty quickly. The stories are engaging and there is always a plot twist at the end of each story. I think that complete beginners may struggle a bit with this book though. Each story is broken down into sections. The sections are usually about 4-5 pages long (and ends with a cliff hanger lol). After each section, you can review the summary to see if you understood the plot. You can read the story again and try to pick up the meaning behind the words that you don't know based on the context of the story. Then you can review the vocab at the end of the section and see if you understood it. If not, go back and reread the vocab word in the story so that you understand what it means and how it is used in a sentence. After that there are 5 multiple choice questions at the end of each section (answers in the back of book). The books are designed to help you learn the 1000 most common words used in Spanish. It's a great way to learn!

I'm on the advanced end of B1 spanish and this book is a bit too easy so I'd say it's good read for advanced A2 to mid B1 learners. Stories are pretty basic, sort of like reading stories for 3rd graders but the method is solid so I find value in them. Reading and listening has really helped elevate my spanish level, highly recommended.

I'm not one who usually gushes about a product, but I have been trying to learn Spanish for literally decades by taking classes, traveling to Spanish speaking countries, and taking online interactive classes (like Baselang), and this one book in combination with the audio (available in Spotify) seems to have finally pushed to the next level. By reading a chapter twice, and then following up by listening to the chapter my vocabulary depth, broad understanding of the language structure, and listening comprehension have really taken off! I think that the way that the chapters are sequenced is brilliant; an early chapter will introduce a word, and then later chapters will bring that word back in from time to time. The syntax is oriented toward beginners like me, so as I progress I will be looking for a similar text/audio combination at an intermediate level.

Just what I needed. The level is perfect for someone trying to brush up like me. The stories are OK. I like the format. I studied Spanish in high school 50+ years ago and have never used it. I bought this to sharpen my skills. To my surprise I can still read it. I'm having to look up a lot of words, but it is coming back to me.

It's helping me with my Spanish comprehension and also the structure of Spanish sentences . It's truly designed to be a pleasurable read. When I was done reading a chapter the high I felt afterwards was more than I experienced doing a lower dopamine task like watching my favorite series. Well done

This book is very helpful, it has many useful phrases and exposes you to many conjugations.

Excellent! The story chapters are a perfect length and use a basic vocabulary that is easy to follow. This is exactly what I was looking for to advance my Spanish!

Parfait pour débuter

Mon fils de 12 ans adore cette série. Je lui ai acheté le meme en anglais pour les debutants et intermédiaires. Cela lui a permis de progresser tranquillement son vocabulaire en lisant des histoires drôles

Great book to really push yourself as a beginner. Laid out really well, and the author describes how best to learn from the book. Love the vocabulary section at the end of each chapter. Next I'll be grabbing the Mexican one from the same author.

I have been studying Spanish and this booked helped a lot. It took me twice to read each chapter while looking at words I didn't know yet, it is a good break from the usual grammar lessons. Highly recommended.

Exactly what I needed, a book to extend my vocabulary. The easy to read short stories give you an easy start and introduce new words.