Listed below are bilingual language picture books in Spanish and English, and multilingual books which include Spanish.
Bilingual books
by Jacqueline Jules; illustrated by Kim Smith
Even the most basic chores can be fun when Sofia is involved! From washing a car to cooking with grandma, this smart and funny 7-year-old knows how to make every moment count. Follow Sofia through three every day adventures in this early chapter book and find out why Sofia has such a crazy life! Includes Spanish words and glossary.
Somos Como las Nubes: We Are Like the Clouds
by Jorge Argueta; pictures by Alfonso Ruano; translated by Elisa Amado
Why are young people leaving their country to walk to the United States to seek a new, safe home? Over 100,000 such children have left Central America. This book of poetry helps us to understand why and what it is like to be them.
¿Por qué los jóvenes que salen de su país para caminar a los Estados Unidos para buscar un hogar nuevo y seguro? Más de 100.000 niños han salido de Centroamérica. Este libro de poesía nos ayuda a entender por qué y cómo es ser ellos.
Bear on a Bike: Oso en Bicicleta
by Stella Blackstone and Debbie Harter; translated by Maria Pérez
Follows Bear as he rides a bicycle to the market, a wagon to the prairie, and even a carriage to a castle. Features various modes of transportation for kids who love things that go. Text is in English with parallel Spanish translation.
by José Manuel Mateo and Javier Martínez Pedro; translated from Spanish into English by Emmy Smith Ready
A Mexican boy tells of his journey to the U.S. with his family. They must face many dangers to cross the border, only to experience the uncertainty felt by all undocumented immigrants. Originally published in Spanish under the title Migrar.
edited by Maite Suarez-Rivas; translated into Spanish by Alma Mora; illustrated by Ana López Escrivá and others
An Illustrated Treasury of Latino Read-Aloud Stories is a complete collection of time-honored tales from the Latino storytelling tradition. Included are 40 classic myths, legends, fables, and fairy tales, as well as riddles, history, biographies, and modern-day stories.
by Juan Felipe Herrera; illustrations by Ernesto Cuevas
Although Tomasito’s spina bifida keeps him in a wheelchair, where he often feels as confined as his flightless and featherless pet bird, he discovers that he can feel free when he is on the soccer field.
Este hermoso libro bilingüe español/inglés tiene como protagonista a Tomasito, un niño con espina bífida y a su mascota, un ave que no tiene plumas. Cuando Tomasito ve por primera vez al pájaro desplumado siente mucho desprecio, pero es gracias a su padre y a su amiga Marlena que el niño aprende a quererlo tal cual es.
by Amada Irma Pérez; illustration by Maya Christina Gonzalez
One night young Amada overhears her parents whisper of moving from Mexico to Los Angeles where greater opportunity awaits. As she and her family journey north, Amada records in her diary her fears, hopes, and dreams for their lives in the United States. Amada learns that with her family’s love and a belief in herself, she can make any journey and triumph over any change — here, there, anywhere.
by Teresa Cárdenas; pictures by Margarita Sada; translated by Elisa Amado
Oloyou the Cat, the very first creature that the God-child creates, is also the very first friend. God-child and Oloyou play together for hours on end, until one day the cat falls into the void and lands in the dark, featureless, sea kingdom of ferocious Okún Aró. Oloyou is terribly lonely until he meets Aró’s mermaid daughter and falls madly in love. Infuriated, the father flings the pair into the heavens, where they become an everlasting part of the night sky.
by Linda Kranz
Little fish Adri promises to remember his parents’ words of wisdom about how to live his life, such as “Find your own way. You don’t have to follow the crowd” and “Make wishes on the stars in the nighttime sky.”
by Antonio Ramírez; pictures by Domi; translated by Elisa Amado
The government is building a dam, forcing the Mazateca people to make a new village for themselves on inhospitable land. Nap recounts what she remembers of this time Ñ traveling upriver to the place where they will resettle, the frighteningly beautiful jaguar she sees by the spring, the fierce fires that clear the land for farming, how her father has to walk all day to a far-off town so that he can buy food for the family. But what stands out in her mind very strongly is the misfortune that occurs when her father is kicked by a horse, which she first envisions in a vivid dream. It is Nap who hastens back to the village to fetch her mother and uncles, her rapidity ensuring her father’s survival.
La Frontera: El viaje con papá ~ My Journey with Papa
by Deborah Mills and Alfredo Alva; pictures by Claudia Navarro
Alfredo y su papá deben cruzar la frontera en un viaje difícil de México a los Estados Unidos. ¿Encontrarán el nuevo hogar que están buscando en el otro lado? Basándose en hechos reales, esta historia cobra vida gracias a la ilustradora Mexicana Claudia Navarro, y está repleta de notas al final del texto para iniciar conversaciones sobre inmigración.
Join a young boy and his father on a daring journey from Mexico to Texas to find a new life. They’ll need all the resilience and courage they can muster to safely cross the border – la frontera – and to make a home for themselves in a new land.
Multilingual Books
Don’t Move! = Ne bouge pas! = ¡No te muevas!
by Anne-Sophie Tilly; Julien Chung; traducido por Yanitzia Canetti
Don’t Move! is the companion book to Hurry Up, where simple one word pages and bold illustrations help multilingual and bilingual children learn common and uncommon animal names in English, French, and Spanish.
Hurry Up! = Dépêche-toi! = ¡Apúrate!
by Anne-Sophie Tilly; Julien Chung; traducido por Yanitzia Canetti
With only one word per page, simple, bold illustrations, and a surprise ending this book can be used to expose toddlers to the names of animals in English, French, and Spanish. Those featured include common ones like lion or monkey, but there are also ones that may be new to children, like iguana or pink flamingo.
Finding More Resources
To find more Dual-Language (Bilingual) Picture books, try the following:
- Search using the General tab on the UBC Library website to look for material in all UBC Library branches.
- Open Summon Advanced Search
- Choose Subject Terms from the drop down menu and type “bilingual”
- On the next line, choose AND and find Subject Terms from the drop down menu again and type “fiction”
- Click Search
- To limit your results to materials in the Education Library, use “Search Education Resources” box in the left hand bar on the Education Library website and search for “bilingual” AND “fiction”
- For bilingual books in Spanish and English use the subject heading Spanish language materials–Bilingual.
For more help with searching, please visit the Library Service Desk or e-mail ed.lib@ubc.ca.
