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Los Ojos de Carmen/Carmen's Eyes
LOS OJOS DE CARMEN is a compelling novella that is very popular among Level 3 and Level 4 students!
SUMMARY: Meet Daniel, a 16-year-old American boy with dreams of winning a photography contest. He embarks on an adventure to Ecuador to visit his wealthy Ecuadorian-American relatives, only to be overwhelmed by cultural shocks at every turn. Amidst the initial thrill of fitting in and partying with his cousins’ friends, Daniel realizes that his photographs aren’t capturing the magic around him.
Everything changes on a day trip when he encounters Carmen, a girl with mesmerizing eyes that ignite his creative spirit. He’s determined to photograph her, but will he ever see her again?
Told from Daniel’s perspective, students will easily identify with his experiences, emotions, and challenges as he navigates a world that is both familiar and entirely new.
Written in conversational Spanish, LOS OJOS DE CARMEN employs simple yet dynamic grammatical structures across present, past, future, and plenty of subjunctive tenses. With approximately 950 unique words and ample repetition, this engaging 7,450-word narrative is designed to resonate with young learners. Plus, a full glossary at the end ensures they grasp every detail.
SUMMARY: Meet Daniel, a 16-year-old American boy with dreams of winning a photography contest. He embarks on an adventure to Ecuador to visit his wealthy Ecuadorian-American relatives, only to be overwhelmed by cultural shocks at every turn. Amidst the initial thrill of fitting in and partying with his cousins’ friends, Daniel realizes that his photographs aren’t capturing the magic around him.
Everything changes on a day trip when he encounters Carmen, a girl with mesmerizing eyes that ignite his creative spirit. He’s determined to photograph her, but will he ever see her again?
Told from Daniel’s perspective, students will easily identify with his experiences, emotions, and challenges as he navigates a world that is both familiar and entirely new.
Written in conversational Spanish, LOS OJOS DE CARMEN employs simple yet dynamic grammatical structures across present, past, future, and plenty of subjunctive tenses. With approximately 950 unique words and ample repetition, this engaging 7,450-word narrative is designed to resonate with young learners. Plus, a full glossary at the end ensures they grasp every detail.
80 pages, Paperback
First published June 30, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
October 26, 2021
Este libro no tiene trama. Lo único bueno de este libro es que es fácil de entender.
November 4, 2022
read this for school and it was lame
May 30, 2026
Yes it counts but high key Daniel was kind of scary
June 6, 2016
Well it is hard enough reading a boring story let alone one written in Spanish=not good.
March 21, 2025
A gentle story about Daniel who goes to stay with relatives for a holiday in Guyana, with the aim of making a prize-winning photo and improving his French.
This is written in a comfortable intermediate French level, grammatically (passé composé, imparfait, etc.). There is a complete dictionary of vocabulary at the back of the book, including for words like "le", with the appropriate translations for the context in which they were used in the story. This is probably better for the hard copy edition, since it would be easy to leaf through to the back. I just used a dictionary instead for a word I wanted to look up due to the lack of hyperlinks and not knowing the vocab list was there until I got to the end. I was comfortable enough with the density of words unknown to me, and it reminds me that straightforward sentence structures make things seem easy in French for those with an English-speaking background.
This is written in a comfortable intermediate French level, grammatically (passé composé, imparfait, etc.). There is a complete dictionary of vocabulary at the back of the book, including for words like "le", with the appropriate translations for the context in which they were used in the story. This is probably better for the hard copy edition, since it would be easy to leaf through to the back. I just used a dictionary instead for a word I wanted to look up due to the lack of hyperlinks and not knowing the vocab list was there until I got to the end. I was comfortable enough with the density of words unknown to me, and it reminds me that straightforward sentence structures make things seem easy in French for those with an English-speaking background.
February 19, 2021
Este libro fue bien. Fue una lectura muy rápida. La cuenta es fácil y es para jóvenes pero es perfecta para practicar leyendo en español. Me gusto mucho el persona principal. El va a un aventura a Ecuador y su corazón para la gente y para ver el país es bonito. Yo he estado en Ecuador y pienso que es un buen representación del país y yo aprendí cosas nuevas también.
May 9, 2026
Este libro me pareció bastante aburrido, pero por supuesto me ayudó a aprender más español. Es cortito y muy fácil de leer para alguien que tiene un nivel alrededor de B1. Creo que es un buen libro entre las historias más cortas y las novelas reales. Se lo recomiendo a alguien que está buscando un libro para practicar su español.
October 21, 2020
An easy reader for practicing translation from Spanish. The story line is a little dated in theme and content, but good enough for its purpose. I appreciated working on more phrases such as: "ya faltaba poco" and "en cierta forma" that you usually don't see in standard vocabulary lists.
November 19, 2023
I continue to adore Verónica Moscoso in my Spanish language journey. This book is a novel (most of hers are based on true stories). This book is a classic example of something that is fiction but true. This is a Level 3-4 Spanish book. It definitely took more effort to read it.
April 7, 2025
I loved being able to read in Spanish and having the convenience of the glossary right there when I needed to check a word. I visited Ecuador many years ago and really enjoyed revisiting the country through this story.
November 3, 2018
This is a good book to improve your french skills. Does it have a phenomenal plot however? Definitely not. This is like a children’s book, oversimplified to help with your learning of french.
November 24, 2022
had to read it for school.
November 20, 2015
Haha, you can tell I'm trying to meet my yearly goal, right?
Yeah, technically I read this in 2014, but I forgot to mark it (and I fudged the date, as you can see, so I can complete my goal). Anyway, I read it while still in Spanish III, at the end of my Junior year in high school. It was good to exercise my reading skills. I don't think it's particularly special otherwise, for use outside of a class.
Yeah, technically I read this in 2014, but I forgot to mark it (and I fudged the date, as you can see, so I can complete my goal). Anyway, I read it while still in Spanish III, at the end of my Junior year in high school. It was good to exercise my reading skills. I don't think it's particularly special otherwise, for use outside of a class.
August 4, 2020
Un otro libro de mis clases de espanol en escuela. Este tambien fue facil, pero mucho mas interasante de suenos de la isla. Sobre un nino de California que fue a Ecuador por dos meses. El descubro que hay un gran differencia entre las vidas de sus tios y la mejoria de ecuador y hay belleza en ambos partes.
June 4, 2024
Read with my Spanish III students. Good culture included and an overall easy read for students, but didn’t like the somewhat abrupt ending.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews