Would you like to improve your Spanish with something fun?
Misterio en el teatro/ Mystery in the theater is a short story with translation following each chapter.
This book is recommended for students of Spanish beginners.
If you are get stuck on a phrase, you can look up the English translation. Or you can verify that you have understand everything because you have the translation right there.
This mystery story has 18 chapters, approximately 7000 Spanish words, plus the translation to English, vocabulary list, 85 exercises in Spanish, with the answer key to confirm what you have learned.
This is a short story with realistic dialogues and set in everyday situations.
As a Spanish teacher with 20 years of experience, I know that students need more than Spanish lessons to improve. In the story, I use the grammar and vocabulary appropriate for this level: present tense, simple sentences and simple story lines. It is accessible for a beginner Spanish reader but also provides some challenges.
This is a detective story that takes place in Madrid. Pepa, a young journalist, starts working at an agency. At that moment she does not imagine that very soon she will meet a famous actress and will help the police to solve a case.
A fragment as an example:
Las chicas van al Café Comercial, en la Glorieta de Bilbao, es un antiguo café literario muy famoso en Madrid, es grande, tiene muchas mesas y está casi vacío. Las chicas van a la barra.
-Hola, buenas tardes, ¿Me pone un café? Por favor -pide Diana.
-Yo voy a tomar una caña y un pincho de tortilla. Tengo mucha hambre -dice Pepa.
-Yo, una Coca-Cola, por favor. Y otro pincho de tortilla -dice Susana. [...]
The girls go to the Café Comercial, in Glorieta de Bilbao (traffic roundabout in a neighborhood called Bilbao), it's an old literary café, very famous in Madrid. It's big. It has many tables and it's almost empty. The girls lean on the bar.
"Hello, good afternoon, can I have a coffee, please?" Diana asks.
"I would like a small glass of beer and a portion of Spanish omelet. I am very hungry". Pepa says.
"A coke for me, please. And another piece of Spanish omelet". Susana says. [...]
If you are a teacher, you might prefer that your students read the Spanish Edition. There are two different versions of the book. You can buy Mystery in the theater in the Spanish - English Edition or the Spanish Edition.
In summary, just what you are looking for!