Bilingual Short Story for Spanish Beginners. LA BAILADORA ASESINA - THE ASSASSIN DANCER: Learn Spanish the fun, easy way! (La Bailadora Asesina Trilogy nº 1)

La bailadora asesina #1

by Cristina López

"I could not put the book down!"

Maria sashays through ancient Córdoba in full Flamenco outfit, searching for her next hapless victim. What is it with her castanets? And why does her world turn upside down one hot summer night?

Immerse yourself in Spanish learning through the pages of La Bailadora Asesina—a quirky mystery tale by Spanish language academic and social media creator Cristina López. Written entirely in the present tense and following a no dictionary method, this gripping page-turner lets you pick up grammar and vocabulary effortlessly as you go. And if you ever get stuck, you have an English translation to refer to. So ditch your dictionary and start reading Spanish the fun and easy way!

La Bailadora Asesina is BOOK 1 in the Bailadora Asesina trilogy. It is split into ten short chapters and in each chapter, you will

A vocabulary section.The Spanish version of the chapter.A reading comprehension section.The English version of the chapter.
La Bailadora Asesina is part of the Learn Languages at Home collection, which provides engaging, accessible bilingual books for language learners of any age.

CRISTINA LÓPEZ is an academic and author of Spanish bilingual books for beginners Viaje a Madrid and Viaje a Inglaterra.

Genres: Spanish Literature, Fiction

99 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 1, 2022

About the author

Cristina López is a Spanish language academic, best-selling author and social media influencer originally from Spain. Now living in the UK, she writes bilingual novels and short stories for Spanish beginners which are loved by readers worldwide. Her page-turning romantic comedies and mystery tales subtly incorporate new vocabulary and grammar, allowing readers to grasp the language in a fun, effortless way.

When not writing or lecturing, Cristina is busy creating language videos for Tik Tok, Instagram, YouTube and more. Catch up with her on her LeanSpanishAtHome accounts!

Reviews

[Dana’s Swamp Monster · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a MUST for Spanish learners. I took up spanish in April with Duolingo, and in June received this book as a gift. I’ve taken it slow, a chapter every few weeks, and it’s benefited me so much. The author encourages you to “read for gist” initially (it’s all explained in the book) and this was a huge breakthrough for me. Instead of being so hard on myself I just had fun with it. Not only did it work, but it was fun, and the story really made me want to keep reading. I read every chapter once in my head, and then once out loud.

For such a reasonable price, if you’re thinking of buying this book, please do.. aside from Duolingo itself, it’s been a really great resource for me, and I’m looking forward to giving the sequel a good crack🥰🥰

Thanks so much Cristina Lopez, please keep writing these books, I need all the help I can get!

[Milan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked it for a short story. The end felt very rushed but for a first book it’s alright. Hope I see more of what happened between chapter 9 and 10 in parts 2 and 3

[Annalisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this! It was an easy way to start learning as a beginner and I really enjoyed the story. It was very interesting. I look forward to more of these books.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a story, it was kind of odd and absurd, but fun. And as a way to practice Spanish it was fabulous.

[Rochelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I made a suggestion to my local library to increase their bilingual collection of books (specifically Spanish/English) and recommended this book along with a couple of others written by the same author. Not only was I pleasantly surprised that the books were immediately purchased by the library, but was even more surprised at how enjoyable it was to read Ms. Lopez' book. (I can't wait to read her others!)

I've been trying to learn Spanish for quite some time now, but am quite frustrated at how poor my reading comprehension remains to be. However, the author removes many of the challenges that I believe tends to hinder my ability to progress, by keeping everything verbs in the present tense, introducing new vocabulary and phrases prior to each chapter, adding a reading comprehension section to re-enforce the "reading for gist" concept, and having a full English translation after each chapter. So what a delight this book was for me, because I actually "got it"! Also, the storyline was very engaging as well.

[Talal Almarri · Rating 5 out of 5]

سافرت للأرجنتين في مايو ٢٠٢٣، وقررت بعد الرجوع للكويت أن أتعلم هذه اللغة الساحرة، فدخلت صف أسباني واللغة جميلة وقريبة من العربية.
بعد أن فرغت من أول مرحلة من اللغة قرأت هذا الكتيب، وهي قصة قصيرة من ١٠ فصول، كل فصل صفحة ونصف تقريبا ويقابلها ترجمة بالإنجليزي. في مقدمة الإنجليزي مفردات أسبانية تعينك على فهم القطعة.
من المهم أن لا تترجم كل كلمة عندما تقرأ، المهم أن تفهم القصة بشكل عام لأن التوقف بشكل مستمر سيقطع عليك الفهم.

[Jennifer Tate · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a total beginner I very much enjoyed giving myself this challenge to pick out a few words, building confidence as the book progresses. I like the format, the chapters are short, they explore new vocabulary and some of it may stick! I'll definitely revisit once my vocab improves to see my progress.

[Macie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn Spanish or studying it at GCSE. It’s simple yet it increases your reading and comprehension skills which would help with the reading paper. Its short so you don’t get bored but its also a really interesting story with lots of useful vocabulary that even if you are a bit more advanced than a beginner,you will still learn something. I love it!

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An awesome book for beginner Spanish learners! It’s easy, fun, and actually a good story. I just wish it were longer! I could’ve read an entire book about the flamenco assassins! Gracias a Cristina, este es un libro muy bueno para principiantes como yo :)

[Donna Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so happy to find these books. As someone who loves reading and trying to learn Spanish this was a great book to help me further get to grips with the language. I will be purchasing the others in the collection and fully recommend to anyone learning Spanish.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun story good for studying Spanish

Interesting premise, lovely setting. Unfortunately, the plot has a lot of holes in it, but don’t let that stop you from enjoying and learning from it.

[Jesse Rowland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Books like this are a godsend for beginner/intermediate language learners who can’t yet read a normal book in Spanish. Fun, easy to follow story with the English translation to check yourself against. I’ve now ordered the next book in the series.

[Robert Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for Spanish learners.

[William Orr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably a good book for those with beginner or low-intermediate levels of Spanish. I would read a book like this to learn French or German. (I already know Spanish.)

[Sebastian Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for learners as anything by Lopez

[Cam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Likely one of the best books you can read as a “beginner” Spanish leaner. The term beginner is really more so someone at an a2 level, not quite literally a beginner. It’s also genuinely a good story.

[G. Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a cliff hanger, so I looked forward to reading the next chapter.

[Michael McCarthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

easy to understand

It’s so nice to read and understand the text! I’m level a2-b1 and I understand about 85% of the text. It’s also an interesting story.

[Aashi Patel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es un bueno libro para estudiar espanol !!