Does anyone (Booklady??) know of a good spanish book for someone who understands/speaks spanish decently (meaning me...12 yrs old)??

Hola Marisa4444,

Thank you for thinking of me. Yes, there are many wonderful books in Spanish for a young adult like yourself. First tell me, what type of ficton you would like to read? Do you prefer novels, short stories, plays,or poetry? Then tell me, what genre would you like to read? Do you prefer, romance, suspense, mystery,science fiction adventure, etc? Last, tell me what time period you would like to read about: modern stories of todays world to 20th century, or stories form Spain's Golden Age, etc.? In other words contemporary fiction or a good classic?

A classic is a book like Miguel De Cervantes' Don Quijote. Don Quijote is a universal book in the sense that a person of twelve, twenty, thirty, forty and sixty will read it and make sense at their level of maturity. I first read Don Quijote at twelve and enjoyed it every bit as much as when I re-read it at thirty-two,but in a different way entirely.

Spanish fiction is, in my opinion,among the richest in the world, so you will have many choices.

And don't rule out nonfiction books. The best thing I've read in years was "Los soldados de salamina" by Javier Cercas. I was crying by the end of the last page.

marisa4444, you sound/seem awfully mature for a 12-year old!

I just finished a 2-short-story book given to me last Christmas by Nuria, the English-speaking daughter of the family which runs Hostal López.

The book is in English but she got it at Madrid's Casa del Libro bookstore. It's called, in English, "Two Spanish Picaresque Novels: Lazarillo de Tormes & The Swindler". Or, in Spanish, "Lazarillo de Tormes" (hey! It's the same in Spanish! DUH! hehehe.. ) and "El Buscón".

My ladyfriend in Madrid tells me these are two famous novels/stories in Spain and well known to most everyone. Larzarillo de Tormes was written in 1554 by a non-certain author. And El Buscón in 1626 by Francisco de Quevedo.

I particularly liked Lazarillo de Tormes more than El Buscón but they're both good and fast reading - at least in English - and 214 total pages. REALLY funny at some points and made me laugh out loud at 5 or 6 times.

Here's the description of the stories from the back, paperback cover: The common thread in these two stories is HUNGER/STARVATION, SWINDLING, and SURVIVING. I'm certain you can find these two easily in Spain - in Spanish - and probably easily here in the USA at your local library - in English.

Good luck! Saludos, MadridMan

Hola Marisa444,
Besides MadridMan's classic recommendation of Lazarillo de Tormes, here are a few more classic titles that may interest you:

1. Becquer, Gustavo Adolfo. (1836-1870) Leyendas
A collection of romantic leyends , some ending tragically, some more fantastic than real but all very interesting and entertaining.Among them are: Los ojos verdes, El caudillo de las manos rojas, Maese Pérez el organista, El beso, El miserere, etc. I love this book!

2.Jiménez, Juan Ramón. (1881-1958) Platero y yo
This is a charming poetic dialog of a man and his donkey, Platero, as they travel together. The man, Juan Ramon, tells his little donkey of the places and people that he knows. Very diverting, and a good vocabulary builder.

3. Pérez Galdós, Benito. (1843-1920) España
Marianela
This is a romantic story of the love of Marianela, a 16 year old disable girl, and Pablo, a blind "lazarillo." Very sweet and sad, romantic!

El Viajero, is correct there are a lot of wonderful classic non-fiction books as well. In this category I would receommend a book by Azorín ( José Martínez Ruiz) 1873-1967 La ruta de don Quijote This is a travel book of the places that were mentioned in Cervantes' Don Quijote! Keep in mind though that Azorin wrote this before the new highway system was in place and the fast Talgo trains!

WOW! I am going to have a hard time choosing! Don Quijote sounds good...I think I might try that one. I love mystery and adventure...and I REALLY enjoy reading about the renaissance...if anyone thinks of more, tell me!

The Quijote is wonderfully entertaining. Bear in mind it's written in 17th-century Spanish, so the language takes a little getting used to. It's worth the effort.

There are student editions that have footnotes or margin notes that define or translate the more obscure words. You might find one of these useful.

When I first read parts of the Quijote, I was just a few years older than you are now. When I started each chapter, I would read the first two pages in an English translation, just to get my bearings, then went back and read the whole chapter in Spanish. If you decide to do this, I suggest either Samuel Putnam's American translation or Walter Starkie's British one. (I prefer Putnam, myself.)