Sneak peek: 100 must-have books to start your FVR library for heritage Spanish class.
If you are just getting started with building your classroom library, but don’t have a ton of funds, you will want to purchase books that are sure to be a hit. To save you time and money, I have put together a list of must-have books for your classroom library, based on the books experience in my own classroom library. If I had to start over, and build a library from scratch again, these are the books I would buy first! Each book on the list has been heavily used, and regularly enjoyed.
When starting a classroom library, it’s a good idea to branch out and feature several genres. Additionally, it’s helpful to offer different reading levels to ensure that students have something on their level that holds their attention. When resources and funding are so scarce, you DEFINITELY don’t want to waste those precious dollars on books that will just sit on the shelf.
Personally, I have found shorter books and graphic novels to work best for my heritage classes. It never hurts to have a few longer novels in your library, but don’t over-do it.
Without further adieu, here are my must-have selections:
Middle School Nostalgia Books
Students like reading these because they are books they are familiar with them. Usually, they’ve already read these books in English when they were in middle school, so the Spanish version is familiar. The Diario de Greg series is hardly ever on my shelf because the boys love them.
*This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click through to one of the product links, I’ll earn a small percentage, at no extra cost to you.
El diario de Greg series (I would get as much of the series you can):
Diario de Greg 1- un pringao total
Diario de Greg 2- La ley de Rodrick
Diario de Greg 3 – ¡Esto es el colmo!
Diario de Greg 4- Días de perros
Diario de Greg 5- La cruda realidad
Diario de Greg 6- ¡Atrapados en la nieve!: ¡Sin Salida!
Diario de Greg 7- Buscando plan
Diario de Greg 8- Mala suerte
Diario de Greg 9- El arduo viaje
Diario de Greg 10- Vieja escuela
Diario de Greg 11- ¡A toda marcha!
Diario de Greg 12- Volando voy
Diario de Greg 13- Frío fatal
Diario de Greg 14- Arrasa con todo
Diario de Greg 15- Con el agua al cuello
Diario de Greg 16- El número 1
You should also get a few of the Diario de Nikki series:
Diario de Nikki 1: Crónicas de una vida muy pocp glamurosa
Diario de Nikki 2: Cuando no eres la reina de la fiesta precisamente
Diario de Nikki 3: Una estrella del pop muy poco brillante
Sports
Jake Maddox Graphic Novels:
Jugada doble
Vuelta al juego
Rivalidad sobre el hielo
Carrera Extrema
Fútbol extremo
Pase completo
Una historia de fútbol por José Roberto Torero
Los futbolísimos (there is a whole series)
Sangre de Campeón Carlos Cuauhtémoc Sánchez
Roberto Clemente por Dona y William Rice
Fútbol (graphic novel)
Messí
Ronaldo: su asombrosa historia
Balón dividido
Gol: un gran equipo
Graphic Novels
Raina Telgemeier books:
Drama
Hermanas
Sonríe
Agallas
El club de las baby-sitters: ¡Buena idea Kristy!
El club de las baby-sitters: ¡Bravo, Mary Anne!
El club de las baby-sitters: El talento de Claudia
El diario gatuno de Junjui Ito Yo y Mu
In Real Life
Crepúsculo
Extraños
Andando
Leñadoras (this is part of a series)
Beautiful un viaje a través del espejo
Magalina y el gran misterio (this is part of a series)
Ilegal
Pyongyang
Arrugas
Habla María
María y yo
TPRS books (easy readers):
I like to include some of these easy readers in my library for those students struggling to approach reading in Spanish for the first time.
Selena
Dragonero
Dragonero despega
Julio por Adriana Ramírez
El útlimo viaje
Vida y muerte en la Marasalvatrucha
Sueño hecho realidad
Mujeres extraordinarias
Vidas impactantes
Leyendas impactantes
Angél
Daniel
Mystery:
Perrock Holmes – Dos detectives y medio (there are more in this series)
El terror de Sexto B
El ekeko -misterio boliviano (tprs novel)
El misterio del Escriba sentado (there are more in this series)
El puzle del panda desaparecido
Crimen en Barcelona
El misterio de la estatua de ciruela
Cara vemos
Fiction:
Here you will find a mixture of short fiction novels and longer fiction novels so that you have some options for students that are at a more advanced reading level.
Wonder: La elección de August
No soy tu perfect hija mexicana
Mil veces haste siempre (or any John Green book!)
Stef Soto, la reina del taco
¿Es cierto que el amor lo cambia todo?
El periódico de Landry
Alguien está mintiendo
A cinco pies de ti
Canciones para PaulaMarina
Nunca, Nunca (this is part of a series)
Horror/Spooky:
Escuela de Espanto: ¡La escuela está viva! (this is part of a series)
Frankenstein (novela gráfica)
El libro del cementerio (novela gráfica)
Coraline (novela gráfica)
Fantasy:
Pandora El fin de los días (novela gráfica)
La pirámide roja (this is part of a series) (novela gráfica)
Nimona (novela gráfica)
El héroe perdido (this is part of a series)
Una arruga en el tiempo (novela gráfica)
Non-fiction & Poetry:
En el país que amamos: mi familia dividida
Voces sin fronteras: our stories, our truth
¡Sí¡ Somos latinos
Héroes de guerra voces de Irak
Querida América: Notas de un ciudadano indocumentado
Red Hot Salsa (bilingual poems) <—some mature themes
I hope these recommendations are useful to help you maximize the funding you have to start your classroom library!
If you would like to see my entire classroom library inventory list, you can check that out here.
For tips and tricks on how to start FVR routines with your students, see this post.
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