La Chica de los Zapatos Verdes [With CD (Audio)] [Spanish]

The review from the 4th level Spanish college student is quite misleading. However, there are other titles in the 'leer en español' series at level 1 with a vocabulary of only 400 words which she might consider for remedial reading.This level two book has a controlled vocabulary of 700 words. The words are overwhelmingly basic vocabulary words. As with all other books in this excellent series, there is a glossary (also in Spanish) and study questions to further aid readers and check comprehension. I think a reader at early intermediate level will be familiar with many of these glossary words already. Some are cognates (i.e., marcas, drogas, imagina, plan) and others are quite clear from the context of the story ('contestador automático is obviously answering machine, for example). The glossary also explains a geographical reference to 'Las Ramblas', the famous street in Barcelona.Concerning the number of pages: this is one thing not standardized throughout the series. This particular book has 61 pages, but the story only takes 40 of these; the remaining pages are composed of illustrations and reader's aids.What is particularly good about this book (and others in the series) is the constant reinforcement of basic vocabulary and common idiomatic expressions. These books are good to read aloud. In fact, Transparent Language's "Language Now" cd-rom program has used several of the titles as reading selections (This is how I first became familiar with the series). I usually keep a title in my purse to read at any time when I may have to wait. This particular story is admittedly not great literature. With such a limited vocabulary, one should not expect great prose. I think considering these limitations, it does pretty well. The story is easy to follow and does go forward in a logical matter. And the plot is not as predictable as it may first seem. It is a mystery story in which a young man and young woman try to solve the death of the girl's friend. While this title is contemporary and appears to have been written especially for the series, other titles in the "Leer en español" series are based on great literature or historic events. The series does have quite a bit of variety. At this same reading level (level two) is "La Ciudad de los dioses" (City of the Gods) which I read as a selection of the "Language Now" cd-rom program. It is about Moctezuma and the fall of Tenochtitlán, as seen through the diary of Hernando Cortez's secretary . I enjoyed it immensely.