Finding quality children’s books in Spanish is a challenge. Searching online stores can be frustrating because often the books are out of stock, very expensive or translations of English stories. Over the years, I have found that the easiest way to find Spanish language books is to search online stores by publisher.
Check out our Spanish Books for Kids Resource Page for reviews and activities for favorite books.
Major Spanish-language publishers have titles available on web sites like Amazon, Better World Books and Barnes & Noble. These publishers are a reliable source of quality books in Spanish. Many of the books will be Spanish language originals, although these publishers also offer translations.
Below are six Spanish language publishing houses that I turn to again and again to find quality children’s books in Spanish. They all have a variety of titles available. I will mention a few books that I have used, but browse the collections to find what is most useful to you. The selection from a publisher, even within a series, can vary greatly in terms of price and availability, so be sure to read the details. Of course, there are many other publishers. If you have favorite Spanish picture books at home, trying searching for other titles by the same publisher.
Syncretic Press and Cinco Books
Syncretic Press and Cinco Books are another way to access authentic Spanish literature for kids. These companies distribute books from Latin America in the United States. Read about Syncretic Press and some of our favorite titles here. Read about Spanish Books for Schools and Families from Cinco Books here.
Publishers of Children’s Books in Spanish
Combel
Combel is a very large publisher from Spain and searching Combel will return many results. Among their titles, they have a series of leveled readers of traditional stories. The books below, El patito feo and El pastor mentiroso, are representative, but there are many more titles in this series. Some of them include audio CDs of the stories.
The other titles below are part of a series called Zoo. I have used those books in Spanish with my preschoolers.
Alfaguara Infantil
Alfaguara is a Spanish-language publishing house that serves markets in Latin America, Spain and the United States. It was part of Santillana, which was acquired by the Spanish conglomerate PRISA. Recently, PRISA sold Santillana’s trade operations to Penguin Random House. You can find children’s books in Spanish by searching Alfaguara Infantil.
The Alfaguara series Personajes del mundo hispano introduces children to famous individuals from the Spanish-speaking world such as Gabriela Mistral, Miguel de Cervantes, Simón Bolivar and Pablo Neruda.
In addition to their original Spanish language titles, Alfaguara Infantil publishes the Spanish translations of many popular English language children books.
Anaya Infantil
Anaya has many wonderful titles. The series called Mi primera sopa de libros and Sopa de libros are a good place to start for Spanish language learners.
Kalandraka
Kalandraka has a series of picture books in Spanish called De la cuna a la luna that is perfect for the littlest Spanish learners. They also publish the translations of many well-known English titles. Search Kalandraka to find these titles and other children’s books in Spanish.
Susaeta
Suseta publishes many fairy tales, fables and other books in Spanish. They also publish board books, collections of jokes and non-fiction titles for kids.
Corimbo
Many of Corimbo’s titles are translations from other languages, but they have lots of wonderful literature for children learning Spanish.
Joanna
Aug 25, 2014
Excellent post! So helpful! I was able to find several titles on Paperbackswap that I had not previously seen in my searches for Spanish or Bilingual material. 🙂 We’ll definitely be adding some to our Amazon wish list as well. Thanks so much for this very practical, useful post for bilingual families.
Jenny
Aug 25, 2014
I’m so glad it was helpful! Thanks for reading Spanish Playground.
Clare
Aug 25, 2014
So useful, and many books to check out that I haven’t heard about. ¡Gracias!
Arelis
Sep 3, 2014
Thank you so much for this post! It has been super helpful. I had been having such an awful time trying to find books in Spanish.
By the way, do you happen to know of a list anywhere of the best children’s literature books in Spanish (and originally written in Spanish, not translations)? I’ve found a small handful of books named the best of 2013. But not any from previous years…
Jenny
Sep 3, 2014
What a great question! There are lots of awards given to children’s books, similar to the Newberry. Those might be the easiest place to start. For example, Anaya has a variety of awards and you can see their recent winners on their website. The winners are not published by Anaya.https://www.anayainfantilyjuvenil.es/premios.php
Edebé also has a prestigious award for children’s literature. You can find a list in the Wikipedia article here: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premio_Edeb%C3%A9_de_Literatura_Infantil_y_Juvenil
Fundación SM awards el Premio El Barco de Vapor in lots of different countries. The winners from Spain are listed on Wikipedia: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premio_El_Barco_de_Vapor I am sure you can search the prize with country name and find lists for the other countries.
This is a fun list where people voted for their favorite El Barco de Vapor books: http://listas.eleconomista.es/literatura/520-cul-es-tu-libro-favorito-de-barco-de-vapor
Thanks for a fun question. I hope this helps!
Arelis
Sep 4, 2014
Thank you so much Jenny! This is exactly what I was hoping to find!!!
Krista
Feb 17, 2016
Thank you! I have some books but would love to grow my collection! The biggest failure I am seeing is that AR doesn’t keep current with new and fun titles. It is a huge motivator for reading in our schools. I love it. I love watching the excitement of reading in our kids eyes.
J-Lin Tamminga
Jun 13, 2016
We are looking for books written in Spanish about the history of Michigan including such things as the Native American tribes in Michigan (Pottawatomie, Ottawa, and Chippewa). We are having a very difficult time finding anything. Do you know of anything that is available?
Jenny
Jun 13, 2016
I’m afraid I am going to let you down completely. Quality books on Native American tribes are very difficult to find, and in Spanish there are very few. Lee & Low does have a several, but from what I see they are about the Mohawk, Pueblo and Navajo. One book that may (or may not) fit in some way, is Celebra un Powwow con Sandy Starbright. It is written by Alma Flor Ada, who consistently writes quality children’s books in Spanish. It is included in Santillana’s classroom collections. I have no idea what tribe it is portraying though. Maybe you can tell? https://www.amazon.com/Celebra-Starbright-Celebrate-Cuentos-Celebrar/dp/1598201158/ref=sr_1_1
I also wasn’t sure what level you were looking for. I’m sorry not to be of more help!
Lena Potyondy
May 23, 2017
This is so great. Thank you! I will add that I successfully ordered some kids’ encyclopedias from Larousse that are not translations: Mi Premier Larousse de nuestro planeta. A few others as well. I ordered enough direct from the publisher to get free shipping to the US!
A question : do you know of any Spanish language publishers that have comic books or graphic novels for kids? My little pre-reader is loving these in English and I need to follow his interest in Spanish, too.
Jenny
May 23, 2017
Thanks for the tips!
I haven’t looked for graphic novels from Spanish publishers, but if you are okay with translations, Graphic Spin en español has titles based on traditional fairy tales. A couple of examples:
https://www.amazon.com/Bella-Bestia-Grafica-Graphic-Español/dp/1434222691/
https://www.amazon.com/Jack-los-Frijoles-Magicos-Grafica/dp/1434222721/
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