When you´re bringing up bilingual children, you can never have enough minority language resources, especially books but sourcing them can be expensive and difficult. Thanks to Amazon and Ebay which make it easier and cheaper and are my usual go-to places when sourcing minority language resources. However, they do have the drawbacks of having the extra cost of postage and the problem of not being able to see the book (or other language resource) before buying it.
Although you can find some English language books in bookshops where I live,there is only a limited selection and they usually cost more so I tend to buy most books from Amazon and sometimes Ebay.However, I suppose at most bookshops you could order minority language books. In big cities such as Madrid, Valencia, Barcelona and in touristy areas you can find English bookshops. Here are a couple of English bookshops I´ve come across although I´ve only visited one of them!! First of all there was Petra´s International Bookshop in Madrid,a small,friendly bookshop, which I actually visited quite a long time ago and which sold secondhand books in English and Spanish and many other languages and it was also possible to exchange books.Apparently,according to an Internet Google search Petra´s International Bookshop is no longer exists but has been reopened/been replaced by Desperate Literature.
I have come across two English bookshops in Valencia through Facebook and although I´ve never visited them, they appear to be two great ways to source minority language resources. The first is English Wooks a specialist English bookshop which sells English books,textbooks and other English language materials for educational purposes for parents and teachers. The second bookshop is an online bookshop based in Valencia called The English Box which sells books and stories for children and teenagers from 1-18yrs old in English. I´d love to visit both of these bookshops when and if I ever go to Valencia!!I´m sure there are others throughout Spain so if you know of any good international or English bookshops in Spain,please let me know!!
Other ways to source minority language resources is to visit your local library as they are sure to have some books in English and other minority languages,although again where I live the choice is limited and are mainly "readers" or graded level reading books for majority language speakers learning another language.
You could also do a book swap or exchange with fellow native speakers and their children to widen the range of minority language resources and books available. I have suggested this to my friends but so far we haven´t got round to doing it!
One of the best ways to access minority language resources is to register at Oxford Owl and what´s more it´s completely free and you can download and access 250 ebooks for free at different levels and age groups, plus they give you many tips about teaching your child to read and Maths,book reccommendations ,storytelling videos,and fun ideas etc to help your child learn.There is even a blog and I have found this website very useful in the struggle with teaching my daughter to read.
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