The beginning passages of this book are simple and relatively easy to understand even if you barely know Spanish at all, but by the end of the book the readings are more complex and challenging. This is a great way to get into Spanish if you know very little. My only complaint is that the exercises are fairly pointless because the answers are whole sentences straight from the text. However, the great passages and formatting make this book worth buying as an introductory Spanish text.

I studied Spanish for six years, with the last being the 1996-1997 academic year. I have tuned in to Spanish media and read a few Spanish language magazines. I wanted to return to the nuts and bolts of the language, with an affordable textbook. I picked up Easy Spanish Reader because it was affordable and promising.

Like any good student, I began with the first story about the two high school students. I regained my confidence with the language. The second part, a short history of Mexico, was fascinating and encouraging. I learned new vocabulary words. I was able to understand each passage, referring to my dictionary only a few times. The last section, the story of Lazarillo, was difficult. Not very difficult, definitely didn't frustrate me, but it did make me work on my comprehension. The Q&A, after each passage, focused on pulling information from said passage.

Dictionary does not have all the words. Have to use your own dictionary as well as there. Gets cumbersome.

This book is often missing the correct usage of the third person indirect object pronouns "le" and "les". There are several instances in which its says "dar a alguien" where it should be "darle a alguien". This is very bad because I started using it with my students when they began to learn these pronouns. They noticed right away that they were missing.

p. 90: "entonces dijo a sus soldados" should be "entonces LES dijo a sus soldados"

p. 90: "y pronto estos ofrecieron su ayuda a Cortes" should be "y pronto estos LE ofrecieron su ayuda a Cortes".

p. 78: "La directora inicia la ceremonia y habla a los presentes" should be "la directora inicia la ceremonia y LES habla a los presentes".

p. 78: "Despues la directora entrega los diplomas a cada uno de los alumnos" should be " Despues la directora LEs entrega los diplomas a cada uno de los alumnos."

They're all over the place.

My students hated this book. I read it years ago but it was far too boring for my eighth grade class. If you're looking for a reader, I'd recommend the Blaine Ray series. It's easy vocabulary; the first book uses only 300 words and has 9 chapters. I had my students read a chapter for homework and then we acted it out in class.

Great book for beginners. Although it is very basic, reading is very helpful when learning a new language.

This is a great book to start out with if you are new to the Spanish language. Although it is very basic, reading is very helpful when learning a new language.

This is perfect for begineer's Spanish. The stories are a great introduction for middle or high school students (even college learners). The stories are a little more juvenial than the older grades, though each word in each story is found in an index in the back of the book. A good buy.

I'm just starting to learn Spanish, and this book is very fun for practice.

I love this book. It is great for extra practice in Spanish. The exercises are good for reinforcing what you have just read, and to make you think about the structure and grammar. It also has the answers in the back of the book so you can check your own work.

This review covers only parts I and II of the book, not the adaptation of Lazarillo de Tormes at the end, because, frankly, I didn't get that far before I gave up. (I might pick it up again, and if I still find it insufferable, I might skip ahead to that section and check it out.) It should be possible to find a similar adaptation online for free, anyway. Or, if you're in the mood for a challenge, of course you can see if you can read it in the original archaic Spanish... heck, I found one free online version in supposedly modernized Spanish with a side-by-side English translation. (I say "supposedly" because I haven't looked at it in detail yet.)

I bought this in the hopes that I'd have something easy to read. Well, it certainly is. It starts out a little TOO easy, reminding me of my lessons from Spanish I in high school. The language in the first part is very simple. Simple language doesn't necessarily mean boring language: just ask Dr. Seuss. The language gets more complex as you progress through the book. But no matter how simple or how complex it is, it's flat-out BORING. There are no jokes. There is no dramatic tension. There are almost no entertaining anecdotes; there was ONE that gave me a chuckle (while I simultaneously rolled my eyes): a character who starts talking about stamps and is apparently incapable of shutting up. But, in short, there is no incentive to keep reading. True, the focus is to study Spanish and not enjoy a good story, but who says you can't do both at the same time? I couldn't stand to read this stuff if it were written in English; reading it in a somewhat unfamiliar language only makes it worse.

The first part is about two students named Enrique and María, and their friends and family and school. This is a fine setting, because words for the situations that are likely to come up are a high priority for many students. But NOTHING HAPPENS. There's no story. It's a coherent and consistent narrative, not a random collection of sentences, but no matter how I try I just can't give a darn about any of the characters or anything they do. A good writer could put together a good story no matter how simple the language needs to be and no matter what vocabulary items he wants to put into it. Or, at least, one that doesn't make the reader want to fall asleep.

The second part is about the history of Mexico. The first half or so of that part focuses on Hernán Cortés and the Aztecs. It reads like an oversimplified history book. History isn't necessarily boring, but history books are usually not fun to read because they're so dry. Here's what I think is the, uh, highlight of the whole book:

"El pueblo azteca estaba tan enfurecido por la cobardía de su emperador que le tiró piedras. Una de estas piedras le dio al emperador en la frente y causó una herida grave. Algunos días después, Cortés mató al pobre emperador."

For those of you whose Spanish hasn't reached this level yet (and if it has, don't even bother with this book), it says this:

"The Aztec people were so enraged by the cowardice of their emperor that they threw stones at him. One of these stones hit the emperor in the forehead and caused a severe wound. Several days afterward, Cortés killed the poor emperor."

Please! This could have been FUN to read. I could have been held in suspense, wondering what the Aztec people were going to do, and after they hit the emperor, wondering if the emperor is going to make it... no, there's no tension or suspense at all. There's a book on programming (Writing Solid Code by Steve Maguire) that talks about how code needs to be as clear and simple as possible, rather unlike a mystery novel. But about that mystery novel, it says, "If you wrote, 'Somebody walked up and stabbed Joe,' you'd put your reader to sleep." A book on PROGRAMMING -- something that has very little to do with writing -- demonstrates a better grasp of storytelling principles than this book does. Doesn't the part I quoted above come down to little more than "Somebody walked up and stabbed Joe"?

The reason that this book doesn't get one star is that it does get a couple of things right. The text is easy to understand, and for words I don't know, there is usually either a quick definition in the margin or, failing that, one in the back of the book. If you have an urgent need to read something, anything, in Spanish that you can understand, it'll do the job. If you're intimidated by Spanish and want to build confidence, this book can probably help if you absolutely can't find anything better. But this book is strictly for studying, nothing else. If you're looking for any entertainment at all, look elsewhere!

This book is fantastic. It's the best one I have seen like it. I made the mistake of getting the 1st edition though and I feel like I got ripped off. After I got the first edition I found out that there was a second edition for less than half the price. I'm still very happy with the book and feel like my understanding of Spanish is improving rapidly because of it.

I found Easy Spanish Reader to be an indispensable help in my quest to perfect my Spanish. The gradual sequence of less difficult to more difficult was helpful and the stories are interesting. The price is also quite good.
Hint: If you wish a truly inexpensive reader/reference guide to the Spanish language, try Language Dynamics Spanish Book for $11.00 on Amazon. Amazingly simple, this text will give you complete same-page translations of very short and easy to understand stories and dialogs.
My text helped me immensely with Easy Spanish Reader because it allowed me to 'build up' to a more sophisticated reading level (once I was reading at a native speakers' second grade level, this became easy).
Getting to the native speakers' second grade reading level is NOT easy, and this is where Language Dynamics Spanish Book saved me.
By the way, when you are ready to actually 'speak' the language, try 'Behind the Wheel Spanish' 8 CDs and text. Great course!!

Easy to read and use, yet a useful teaching tool. I strongly recommend it for students who are in their second Spanish course.