Easier to Read Spanish

If you know some Spanish there is no better way to practice than to try and read something in the language. The trouble is that the simpler something is, the less riveting the subject matter tends to be. We propose some of the timeless classics, like The Little Prince, or El Principito en español, and an English-Spanish edition of Platero y Yo, by Juan Ramón Jiménez. The Noble Prize winner's most popular and enduring work traces the wanderings of a poet and his donkey through Andalusia. These prose poems are not always easy to follow, but the bilingual edition will help if your Spanish is not really there yet. If you're feeling a little adventurous we recommend one of the original Venezuelan soap operas in paperback form, Rómulo Gallegos's Doña Bárbara. Because you know the plot so well (after all, aren't good soap operas truly archetypal) and because the pacing will be familiar to any reader of English-language paperbacks, this might be a great way to start. The bonus with Doña Bárbara is that most people think of it as high literature—a classic even—so you get all the guilty pleasure without any of the guilt. You can check out First Spanish Reader: A Beginner's Dual-Language Book, although it has a lot of classic stories that might not appeal to those trying to learn contemporary Spanish.