June Spanish Book List for Kids

by | May 25, 2018 | Booklists


You might have heard me say this lately—reading aloud in Spanish and reading Spanish poetry have added so much LIFE to our Spanish learning! Don’t get me wrong. I love all the activities and games and calendar and lessons we have done in the past. And we are still doing many of those things. However. Reading Spanish books and poetry has been such an easy and delightful way to add natural, authentic Spanish language to our life.

Spanish books and poetry take the pressure off of me (a bilingualish mom) to come up with real, authentic language. I speak Spanish, but I don’t speak it as naturally and as effortlessly as I would like. Finding good books in Spanish isn’t always easy. It has taken me a while to get the hang of finding them on Amazon and our local library’s website. That made me think, why not start making a monthly booklist to share with you all?! Hopefully that will cut some work out for you, and motivate me to get more Spanish books into my own family’s life!!

Keep Reading for:

  • A fun list of Spanish kids books for June
  • Printable version of the list to assist you while searching for books at the library or online
  • Tips for reading Spanish aloud with your kids (to minimize complaining)
  • YouTube videos of most of the books on the list (in case you’re not ready to read in Spanish yet!)
  • Ideas for making reading fun this summer!

Spanish Books For June

I tried to pick a variety of books with shared themes that overlap with things you might already be exploring this time of year—early summer themes like berries, vegetables, gardening, bugs and mice. I included one fairytale (Jack and the Beanstalk), one English-Spanish integrated text (The Tooth Fairy Meets El Ratón Pérez), lots of fun books featuring bugs and mice, a few books highlighting an element of hispanic culture and multiculturalism, an easy reader (Hi Fly Guy), a chapter book (The Mouse and the Motorcycle), one story written originally in Spanish (La luz de lucía), a couple with minimal text (Goodnight, Moon; Mouse Paint) so as not to overwhelm listeners who aren’t used to hearing books read in Spanish, and lots of books with repetitive story lines (Quick as a Cricket, The Grouchy Ladybug, The Napping House) which are fabulous for language learning.

After you have requested all of these books from your library, or bought them online, head over to Spanish Playground to print off some fun Summer Reading Challenge BINGO cards. It will make reading in Spanish more of a game than a chore!

You might also like: SPANISH ACTIVITY CALENDAR FOR SUMMER 2018

Pro Tip: If you can’t find what you’re looking for in your library’s catalogue, ask if they provide the WORLDCAT service. It’s an inter-library loan service where you can request books from other libraries around the United States.

Tips for Reading Aloud in Spanish


I have discovered over the years that my kids don’t always LOVE it when I read to them in Spanish. If this happens at your house try these ideas:

  • explain or summarize first in English what’s happening on the page before you read it in Spanish
  • before reading the book go through it together and point out all the nouns and name them in Spanish; do this until your kids can name the objects on their own
  • try just reading one page at a time
  • be very dramatic as you read the story—make funny faces, use big hand gestures, exaggerate your voice, use different voices for each character, make sound effects, employ dramatic pauses here and there
  • read the book aloud to yourself without asking your kids to listen or sit near you (more than likely they will pay attention or draw near, but just keep reading and enjoying the story without saying anything to them)
  • start with Spanish/English integrated texts, then move to Spanish stories with very short text (or even find some easy readers in Spanish), then increase text lengths as you see fit
  • find the story on YouTube or purchase the audiobook version and watch or listen to the story together (tell your kids it’s okay if they don’t understand it all at first!) I just listened to an awesome podcast about this, which has more tips along these lines
  • create suspense and excitement by ordering just a few books at a time (instead of all at once), then when the package arrives at your doorstep act very excited when opening it and read the books together right when you do…the kids might start to look forward to each Friday for example when they know a new package will arrive with surprise books in it
  • make reading Spanish books an especially cozy or fancy occasion: for example have cookies or treats whenever you read in Spanish, or read on your trampoline at night in the dark with a flashlight, or take your Spanish books to read at the park, or make a big deal about the entire family reading together when it’s a Spanish book
 
 
 

Want a vocab list and some fun printable picture cards to help reinforce new words from these stories? Sign up for my monthly newsletter here, and it will be delivered to your inbox as soon as it’s ready!

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Del Mazo, Margarita La luz de lucía
 
Arnold, Tedd Hola, Hombre Mosca
 
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The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear – Read Aloud in Spanish

Mouse Paint – Read Aloud in Spanish




Buenas noches luna – Read Aloud in Spanish


La casa adormecida – Read Aloud in Spanish


Se venden gorras – Read Aloud in Spanish

La mariquita malhumorada – Read Aloud in Spanish

Si le das una galletita a un ratón – Read Aloud in Spanish


Jack and the Beanstalk Story

La luz de Lucía – Read Aloud in Spanish

Kali Carollo

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