¡Así Leemos!, Multilevel Spanish Reader

If you've had a semester or two of Spanish, and you truly want to learn the langauge, I highly recommend this book. The book begins with very simple words and phrases and progresses at a moderate pace to more difficult readings. I tried other "beginner" books (such as "First Spanish Reader"), but I found them too advanced after only a few months in the classroom. Now, "Easy Spanish Reader" has helped me bridge the gap from my textbook to hispanic newspapers and short stories (and to "First Spanish Reader" again). My edition (the second) has an answer key for the exercises (although you won't need it) and a pretty good glossary. Hint: Re-read the passages every now and then, and make flash cards out of the few words you don't remember. You'll be surprised how quickly you can learn that way.

Enrique and Maria are seniors at Glenview High School, learning Spanish and enjoying the activities of their Spanish club, los Aventureros. They have an enjoyable senior year, playing sports, going to movies, and even exchanging "e-mails" with students from Spain. As we say goodbye to Enrique and Maria their friendship is ripening into--well, maybe, something more. So, what will finally happen? You will just have to read the book to find out--in Spanish. Two subsequent sections of the book comprise a brief history of Mexico--in full blood and gore--from the Aztecs to Vicente Fox; and a shortened adaptation of a classic 16th century Spanish work, Lazarillo do Tormes. Easy Spanish Reader is based on the concept that you learn quickest by simply reading. The lessons are progressive so that you learn quickly, incorporating new words based on context. There are no tedious grammar lessons or vocabulary lists. No verb conjugations. Everything explains itself, except for a small number of marginal glosses for new vocabulary words. As other reviewers have noted, a certain rudimentary knowledge of Spanish is essential to use this book, but it can be minimal. The concept works, partly because English and Spanish share so many words and concepts. Exercizes after each lesson help to consolidate what has been learned. The only flaw I could find is that the glossary at the back is incomplete. There are a few words you will just have to guess at. I enjoyed this book thoroughly, and I feel it has greatly enhanced my knowledge of Spanish. I recommend it highly. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.

I used audio learning (Pimsleur; Learn Spanish in your Car; Vocabulearn). This book was excellent to help me bridge my audio comprehension to visual/reading. I don't know why the 2nd edition is labelled "Abridged". The only difference I noticed is that the 2nd edition has an increased page count, and it has the answers to the exercises at the end of the book. I didn't notice any material removed.

I recommend this book highly for anyone who has a very basic (and it need be only very basic) understanding of beginner Spanish. The book is broken up into very short readings followed by questions or othjer exercises. This book should not be the sole source to learn Spanish because there is no pronunciation guide and definitions of words in the text don't always distinguish first person, second person plural etc. Therefore, you need to have some idea of these grammatical rules. However, this book is a great way to learn to read and to expand on your very basic knowledge of the language. You can read and try to understand everything from the context. If you need help in understanding, there is a glossary of new words introduced into each of the readings. This really helps in learning not only to read but to speak. I find this book to be one of the easiest ways to build vocabulary. I enjoy using this reader and I think it's a wonderful resource for the beginning student.

This book is excellent for learning to read in spanish! It starts out as a very basic reader a little like see spot run, see jane run after spot kind of style involving the story of two young students who eventually fall in love and gradually progresses to intermediate history lessons and finally to the anonymous Spanish classic of Lazarillo de Tormes. I used this book when I first started learning spanish and am now a Junior at the University of California with a major in Spanish/Portuguese literature. I owe alot to this little book and recommend it highly.