Do you ship to all of the United States?
Yes we do. We do not ship to outside of the United States except for Puerto Rico. If you consider that outside of the U.S. Shipping is very cost prohibited to Canada and other countries .
Can I order with Donor's Choose?
We are not approved vendors with the organization, but many have ordered through a special project. See this post for more information.
Do you have Guided Reading Books?
No, we do not have guided reading sets. After working with our Latin American publishers for years we have determined that the United States leveling system is too far away from correlating with our Spanish literature. We encourage schools and teachers to focus on:
- Book Clubs to promote conversation and reading comprehension in small groups and organized around themes. We created these clubs to support the themes in our Comprehensive Read Aloud collections.
- Oracy through oral language groups - see our blog post Oral Language Development for Kindergarteners for more specific suggestions.
- Read A - that support classroom learning and are rich in illustrations and vocabulary. We are partial to our books and have a Kindergarten Collection. You are also welcome to browse our books and we encourage you to use the filters to find what best fits you.
- Explicit instruction in decoding; HOWEVER, if you find yourself spending hours on this it is TOO MUCH. There are different programs available: Estrellita, Fonética y Gramática by Benchmark, and La Cartilla by Santillana.
- Song and Music - Our favorite is 1,2,3 Andres, but are also fans of Jose Luis Orozco, and Alina Celeste.
Are your books leveled?
Yes, they are leveled by grade level based on the content, length, and abstract concepts.
They are not leveled by a U.S. leveling system like DRA, Fountas and Pinnell, Lexile, or others. We follow the balanced literacy guidelines that books in all spaces OTHER THAN guided reading are not to be leveled by the U.S. leveling systems.
Do you pre-process books for libraries?
No we do not. We do; however, work with Follett.com. They have some of our titles available and are able to pre-process books for libraries. We encourage you to reach out to your local representative. Libraries are welcome to order from us we are happy to provide metadata. If you have any additional questions please reach out to sales@booksdelsur.com.
Where can I see the books in your collections?
We do not share the the list of books in our school collections - Read Alouds, Book Clubs, and Classroom Libraries. These collections and their curation process are what make Books del Sur's collections sole source, which allows us to compete with the much larger educational companies. However, we do have filters in our collections so that you can see our books by grade levels (and many other categories for that matter) and if you would prefer to pick your own books, we welcome you to do that.
How can I publish a book?
Books del Sur has published books in the past. However, we work with so many great publishers we have decided to focus on curating and supporting our publishing partners. If you are interested in publishing, we suggest that you:
- Research and find a publisher that has books you like and are similar to the one you've written or published. Inquire with them about the possibility of publishing.
- Consider self-publishing. Ingram Spark is an incredible resource for how to publish, publishing a book itself, and selling the book.
What is Books del Sur?
Books del Sur is a bilingual literacy company founded in 2009 in Madison, Wisconsin. We curate Latin American literature in Spanish for bilingual and dual language programs in U.S. schools — selecting every title for cultural relevance, instructional value, and curriculum alignment. Our team is made up of former dual language teachers and bilingual program coordinators, approximately half of them former English Language Learners.
What is the Educator Collaborative?
The Educator Collaborative is a national network of bilingual teachers, librarians, instructional coaches, and program coordinators who review every book in our catalog. Members evaluate each title for cultural relevance, instructional value, and real-classroom fit before it is offered to schools.
How is Books del Sur different from a regular bookstore?
Unlike a general bookstore or distributor, every title we offer has been curated specifically for bilingual and dual language programs in the U.S. We reject between 15% and 20% of all titles we evaluate each year. Our collections are aligned to curriculum standards and reviewed by active bilingual educators.
Who do you work with?
We work with teachers, bilingual program coordinators, school librarians, and district administrators across the United States. We also sell directly to families and individual educators.
How do schools place an order?
Schools and districts can request a quote by contacting us at sales@booksdelsur.com. We accept purchase orders (POs) and offer volume discounts for large orders.
Do you offer books aligned to specific curricula?
Yes. We have experience aligning collections to specific district curricula, including Chicago Public Schools' Skyline ALE program, for which we delivered 1,191,270 books across 42,194 sets with 569 unique titles.
What are Author Talks?
Author Talks are live and recorded conversations with Latin American authors, available to bilingual classrooms across the U.S. They give students direct access to Spanish-language authors from across the Spanish-speaking world.
Do you offer ebooks?
Yes. Ebooks del Sur is our own ebook platform with Spanish-language titles for bilingual and dual language programs.