Just in time for the summer book-reviewing season!  Here is the most recent list of High-Interest Vocabulary-Controlled Readers in Spanish. It is not a complete list of all books available in Spanish, just the ones I am familiar with and recommend. These are all books that I would use in my classroom. I originally made lists to help my students and myself. The idea was to help them find suitable books and to keep track of how many words each student had read independently. But recently I realized that if I adjusted the list teachers could use it to help them decide what books to get for their classrooms.

I am wondering is why more publishers do not ask their authors for unique word count and total word count in the books they write. I think it could be a selling point because it shows that you know what your customers need and want: Teachers and students need to know if their students will be able to read a book due to the word count and/or they want to know if they can get through the book as a class novel due to the length.

This list is not carved in stone. It is just my impression based on my students’ reporting. Please let me know what you think of the order of the books as well as the ACTFL descriptors and any glaring omissions to the list.