Short Stories in Spanish for Beginners Paperback – November 13, 2018

(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 recently had the pleasure of reading this book for Spanish learners, and I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed it. What stood out to me the most was the emphasis on the importance of practice, something that I found particularly useful as a language learner myself.The stories were engaging and well-written, striking a perfect balance between being informative and enjoyable. I never once found myself bored or overwhelmed with too much information. The length of each story was just right, not too long or too short, making it easy to read and comprehend.Overall, I found the book to be a great resource for those learning Spanish I particularly appreciated the practical tips and advice given throughout the book, which can be applied to other areas of language learning as well.In conclusion, I highly recommend this Short Story book for Spanish learners. It's a great read, not too boring and not too wordy, and I'm sure you'll find it as enjoyable and informative as I did. Happy reading!

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

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.

I've bought several books in the "StoryLearning" series, and I am one very happy customer! Ollie Richards speaks eight languages and has figured out how to teach people serious about wanting to learn foreign languages. The stories are written in such a way that children, youth and adults can enjoy them - no more relentless focus on grammar drills or endless lists of vocabulary. It sounds odd, but as you read, you realize that you "know more" about your target language than you ever imagined. It's about language acquisition, rather than language learning, and Mr. Richards knows how it's done. I bought his books n French, got to an unexpectedly good level, relocated back to the US and decided Spanish would be of more use to me in the U.S. I have no doubt that I will level up to a solid level of Spanish very quickly, and I recommend these books for language acquisition above any other books I've found!