Back to School Books in Spanish – August Booklist

Hey there! Just a quick note: Our family lives in the United States and speaks English as our first language. While I do try to find authentic resources, and books that are written originally in Spanish, it’s not always that easy. And sometimes I will suggest a book written first in English because it is a classic where we live, and makes my kids more inclined to want to read it in Spanish because they are already familiar with it. That means my book lists might contain a lot of books that are translated from English into Spanish, and that don’t necessarily highlight Hispanic culture. Of course I prefer it not to be that way, and I do the best I can to include authentic Spanish books! If you know of any authentic Spanish books around these themes that are easily accessible in the US please share in the comments.

All the links in this post are Amazon affiliate links. I am also an ambassador for Barefoot Books, so links to their products are referral links. Purchases made through these links earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you. ¡Gracias!

Back to School Books in Spanish

    

From the creators of the beloved picture book “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,” comes another adventure with mouse as he gets ready to go to school. A very fun way to practice new school supply words in Spanish for Spanish learners, and the text is repetitive so that kids can memorize or predict the text and “read along.” Also a great book for practicing the future tense!

Written by Violeta Denou

Violeta Denou is an author from Barcelona that developed the “Teo” book series that went on to become a T.V. series as well. The Teo books remind me somewhat of Spot books by Eric Hill or even the Arthur series by Marc Brown. There are titles like ‘Teo and His Grandparents,’ ‘Teo and His Friends,’ ‘Teo at the Park.’ Mi primer día de colegio is an easy-reader Kindle version of Teo with pictures cues to help beginning readers.

Spot books are great for beginning readers or Spanish learners wanting to try out reading in Spanish. Spot Goes to School is a cheery look at the first day of school. You can learn short simple phrases in Spanish, as well as use the illustrations to point out words you’re practicing in Spanish.

This book is a little longer, and perhaps better for kids whose Spanish is a bit more advanced than beginner. BUT. The text is short enough, I think you could still read it to kids that don’t understand all the words yet, and then translate to English for some exposure and practice with longer Spanish sentences. In other words, the amount of text is not sooo long that you will lose your kids’ attention. And the illustrations are engaging enough to keep them occupied while you try to sneak in some Spanish exposure. Kids will have fun wondering how a dinosaur might behave (or not!) in class. You can also have it read to you on YouTube!

   

Sarah is starting at a new school this year and she refuses to get out of bed and go! She just knows it will be an awful school and she won’t like it. Her dad finally convinces her to get out of bed and she’s on her way to school where her friendly teacher awaits to help her love her new school.

Illustrated by Frederick S. Richard

Rosemary Wells endearingly captures the essence of what it’s like to be a preschooler! This book about Eduardo at school is from her “Edward-the-unready” series.

Un beso en mi mano (The Kissing Hand, Spanish Edition) (Ages 3-8)

It’s back to school time in the forest! But Chester Racoon doesn’t want to leave his mommy and friends and toys. Thankfully Mrs. Racoon has a secret that will help Chester feel his mommy’s love all day long to help him through all the back to school nerves. Here you can hear it read in Spanish!

It’s the first day of school and Camilla Cream is so nervous! She’s afraid she won’t be like the other kids or fit in. She can’t figure out what to wear and when she finally does she discovers she has come down with a case of the STRIPES! Can her teachers, parents, or any of the experts help her figure out what’s going on? Read along in Spanish with the video on YouTube below.

The Wheels on the Bus — Las ruedas del autobús (Ages 3-7)

Here is a fun twist to the classic song The Wheels on the Bus!

Sing your way from a Guatemalan village to market with this marimba-inspired song and book. Available in English and Spanish, with end-notes about the beautiful country of Guatemala. You can take a peek inside the book at the Barefoot Books website (linked in the title above), and you can watch the English version of the song on YouTube.

 

Check out these other booklists from some of my favorite websites:

And here you can check out some back-to-school vocabulary flashcards I made a few years back! You can download the printable, or just save the photos to your computer to print!