Historias De Miedo: 1 by Alvin Schwartz

If you’re looking for scary stories in Spanish you’re in luck!  Historias de Miedo (Scary Stories) is filled with a wide range of short horror stories written in Spanish. No story is longer than three pages, making the book a quick read for those looking to read it cover to cover or those just looking for a quick scare fix.  The book seems a good fit for middle schoolers, because it is unlikely that any of the stories will keep students up at night; a few tales were more funny than scary.   The book is divided by chapters, each one containing a category of stories such as: ghosts, stories that will make you jump, scary stories about everyday dangers and even a funny scary stories section.  Tales are accompanied by black and white pictures that complement the story.  My favorite was a comic strip like tale told through four panels about the sea waves coming in and out of the beach called, “El Slideri-di,” which translates to “the sliding slide” or something along those lines.

At the end of the book is an annotated bibliography with details about the background of the stories and their original source. Students looking for not so serious horror stories should enjoy this book. -- Claudio Leon

Schwartz, Alvin. Historias de Miedo: 1. Editorial Everest, 1981. Print.

Love Poems by Pablo Neruda

What's not to love about a book of love poems? Even better, a book of love poems by none other than Nobel Laureate and Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, with the original Spanish on the left page and the English translation on the right page? Our students ask me for books with love poems all the time -- sometimes they're looking for inspiration for writing their own poetry, and sometimes they're just looking for a poem that describes their own feelings, and they want to share that poem with someone special. When the opportunity to acquire class sets of poetry books for our English teachers came up last year, we recommended this title for the high school groups. It has been a big hit with students, who first fall for the design of the book (it must be about love, it's pink!, but it's also a little flashy and so small it's almost pocket-size), and then they find the poetry inside. This little book is filled with sensual language and beautiful imagery; students will certainly appreciate this particular resource during poetry units, but teachers may also wish to share this book with Spanish-speaking students, or integrate it into the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.

Neruda, Pablo. Love Poems. New York: New Directions, 2008.