Including bilingual books for kids in your classroom library is a smart choice regardless of your student population. Bilingual books can help English-language students (ELLs) or multilingual students (MLs) and their families. They can introduce all children to other languages! Bilingual books make it easy to connect and compare different ways of saying the same message.
Bilingual books for kids can sometimes be hard to find, so we’ve done some research for you English and Spanish bilingual books are the most readily available, but we have also found some great options in other languages.
(Just a warning, WeAreTeachers may collect a portion of sales from the links on this page. We only recommend items that our team likes!)
Bilingual books for children in English and Spanish
1. A very hungry caterpillar by Eric Carl
It’s good to have some classic titles in the bilingual version for your little ones. Eric Carl has covered you with this classroom head and many other options.
Buy it: La oruga muy hambrienta / The Very Hungry Caterpillar on Amazon
2. The Feelings Book / Todd Parr’s The Book of Feelings
Todd Parr is a go-to for helping children communicate important concepts of socio-emotional learning. Available in Spanish, these words are extra helpful!
Buy it: Feelings Book / Feelings Book on Amazon
3. Sing with me / Sing with me by Jose-Luis Orozco
This colorful collection features classic songs such as “The Wheels on the Bus” and “Old MacDonald”. English and Spanish translations are side by side so you can sing them both!
Buy it: Sing with me on Amazon / Canta Conmigo
4. Quinito’s Neighborhood / Ina Campiano El Vesindario de Quinito
This colorful title gives a tour of a close urban neighborhood The people who live there have different and interesting jobs!
Buy it: Quinito’s Neighborhood / El Vesindario de Quinito on Amazon.
5. Quinito, Day and Night / Quinito, day and night by Ina Campiano
Quinito uses many contrasting words to describe his family and his routine. This book is suitable for creating basic vocabulary. It also tells kids about their own families.
Buy it: Quinito, Day and Night / Quinito, day and night on Amazon
6. Isabel and her Colors Go to School (English and Spanish version) by Alexandra Alessandri
Isabelle still can’t speak English, and she’s nervous about starting her new school. She is happy to connect with a new friend through artwork. Share it at the beginning of the year or to create empathy when you have new students.
Buy it: Isabelle and her colors go to school on Amazon (English and Spanish version)
7. Palettero Man / What a cool Palettero! By Lucky Diaz
In this fun, interesting book everyone will have a craving for a cold, icy summer meal. It is set in a varied Los Angeles neighborhood.
Buy this: Palettero Man / 8Q Palettero Tan Cool! Amazon
8. Ben Gundersheimer Miss Butterfly
The children are fascinated when they learn about the journey of the king butterfly. English and Spanish options as featured languages. Inspire classroom art projects too!
Buy it: Miss Butterfly on Amazon
9. Los animales no se dormian / The Animals Would Not Sleep! By Sarah Levine
We love storytelling math series and it now includes Spanish and bilingual books for kids! In this funny story, Marco tries to arrange his stuffed animals for the bed.
Buy it: Los animales no se dormian / The Animals would not sleep! Amazon
10. Carmen T. By Bernier-Grand we laugh similarly
Two groups of kids meet each other in the park. How will they play together if they do not speak the same language? This book gives the answer to that question in a sweet way with the next bilingual text.
Buy it: We’re smiling the same way on Amazon / Juntos nos reímos
11. Ready, set, go! All kinds of games / your marks, set, out! All kinds of sports by Celeste Cortrit
Hurray to make nonfiction bilingual books attractive for children! This new image and powerful text will excite the kids about different sports. The latter contains additional information in both languages.
Buy it: Ready, set, go! All kinds of games / your marks, set, out! All kinds of sports on Amazon
12. ¡olinguito, de la a a la z! / Olinguito, from A to Z! By Lulu Delacro
This fascinating bilingual alphabet book for kids takes readers to the cloud forests of South America. A zoologist is looking for a new species of animal, the olinguito. Enjoy it on different levels!
Buy it: ling Olinguito, de la A a la Z! / Olinguito, A to Z! Amazon
13. Marisol McDonald Dosn’t Match / Marisol McDonald no combina by Monica Brown
If you are looking for a bilingual book to study children’s character traits, Marisol is one of our favorites. He’s a good Peruvian-American kid who has the flair to act like himself. Also check out Marisol McDonald’s and Clash Bash!
Buy it: Marisol MacDonald doesn’t match / Marisol MacDonald doesn’t match Amazon
14. My very own room / my own little room by Amada Irma Perez
Add this great bilingual book for kids to your personal descriptive mentor text collection. In this autobiographical story, Amada longs for her own place in her crowded home. Her caring family pulls through for her. Also see the prequel, My Diary from Here to Dair / Mi diario de aqui hasta allá, an immigration story.
Buy it: My very own room / my propio cuartito on Amazon
15. Sharuko: Peruvian archaeologist Julio C. Telu / Monica Brown’s Peruvian archaeologist Julio C. Tello
Expand your students’ background knowledge with this bilingual biography. Julio C. Tello was the first indigenous Peruvian archaeologist. His discoveries have changed the world’s understanding of Peru’s rich history.
Buy it: Sharuko: Peruvian archaeologist Julio C. Tello / Peruvian archaeologist Julio C. Tello on Amazon
16. Todos Iguales: A Corridor of Lemon Grove / All Equal: A Ballad of Lemon Grove by Christy Hale
In 1931, Mexican families in California won the first school separation lawsuit. This informative bilingual book for kids tells this important story in a related way.
Buy it: All the same on Amazon.com
Bilingual books in English and other languages
17. My first bilingual book series by Milette Publishing
This series provides bilingual board books in different languages. Good for browsing messy pictures and text or for supporting vocabulary-building.
Buy this: My first bilingual book: Clothes on Amazon (Portuguese and English version)
18. Katy and Cudella Bilingual Photo Dictionary Series
This series is available in a wide selection of different languages. Native speakers reviews are positive, and the included phonetic pronunciation is easy.
Buy this: My first book on Russian words on Amazon (bilingual picture dictionary)
19. When We Are Kind By Monique Gray Smith / When We Are Kind (English and Navaho version)
Nice, simple message about the effects of being kind all day in English and Diné (Navaho). We can picture the heartwarming book extension project!
Buy it: When we are kind / Nihá’ádaahwiinít’íigo (English and Navajo version) on Amazon
20. Rainbow Fish Bilingual Edition by Marcus Fister
One of the best known ambassadors for sharing everyone’s favorite shiny-scaled fish. It is fitting that the book can be shared in many languages! There are bilingual versions in French, German, Arabic, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese and Russian.
Buy it: Rainbow Fish on Amazon English-Vietnamese Edition
21. Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmanh: Niibing, dgwaagig, bboong, mnookmig dbaadjigaade maanpii mzin’igning / This Is How I Know: A Book About the Seasons by Brittany Luby
This fantastic story / poem explores the sensitive features of each passing season in Anishinabemouin and English. Use it to share Ojibwe language and culture with students.
Buy it: Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh / This is how I know on Amazon
22. Daniel and Ishmael by Juan Pablo Iglesias
Daniel Jew and Ismail Palestinian. Exchanging birthday gifts by mistake crosses their path. Switching back leads to new friendships and understandings. This unique multilingual book contains texts in English, Hebrew and Arabic.
Buy it: Daniel and Ismail on Amazon
23. My first book of haiku poetry: a picture, a poem and a dream, translated by Esperanza Ramirez-Christensen
It is very powerful for children to listen to poetry in other languages. This translated haiku collection of Japanese major poets also includes poems with Japanese symbols and phonetic accents.
Buy it: My first book of haiku poetry: a picture, a poem and a dream on Amazon