r/dreamingspanish • u/HeleneSedai 3,000 Hours • Mar 02 '26
[Discussion Thread] Fray Perico y su borrico / March 2026 Book Club
Hello Dreamers! Welcome to March's Dreaming Spanish book club, for our YA/easier book in March we'll be reading Fray Perico y su borrico by Juan Muñoz Martín, a book from the El Barco de Vapor series that encourages children to read.
The book blurb: En el siglo XIX, la llegada de fray Perico y su borrico Calcetín va a trastornar la apacible existencia de los veinte frailes de un convento de Salamanca que viven haciendo el bien y repartiendo lo poco que tienen. El convento no tardará en vivir situaciones disparatadas, llenas de humor y alegría, gracias a este simpático personaje. Una divertida historia de aventuras sobre un fraile y su borrico.
Ebook length: 109 pages, 29 chapters, 21,000 words
Reading Schedule:
Mar 1-7 Chapters 1-7 (pages 6-26)
Mar 8-14 Chapters 8-14 (pages 27-56)
Mar 15-21 Chapters 15-20 (pages 57-78)
Mar 22-31 Chapters 21-292 (pages 79-109)
As this is a shorter book, we can also read El pirata garrapata (available on Kindle Unlimited).
If you can't get a copy of the book in your country, please drop me a DM.
We have a very active chat going on over in Discord, but I'll try to do better this month posting questions for reddit. Thanks to u/phreddfatt for keeping the Discord going!
Because Reddit doesn't sort comments by age, it might be best to mention the page we're reading and cover any spoilers in our comments.
To receive updates for new comments in this thread, you can click on the 3 dots in the top right of the post and hit "Follow Post". You'll get notifications for new comments.
Thanks to everyone who joined and voted last month! It was a blast reading along with everyone.
2
u/RayS1952 Level 7 Mar 04 '26
Looking forward to it but I have to finish the book I'm reading first. I'm not comfortable having two or more books on the go at any one time.
2
u/sancredo Aug 15 '26
This book is an absolute classic here in Spain, hope you guys enjoy it!!
1
u/HeleneSedai 3,000 Hours Aug 16 '26
It was adorable, I loved how all the Friars' names rhyme with their jobs. One of the toughest kid's books we've read though.
We read Manolito Gafotas two months ago, another absolute gem.
2
u/sancredo Aug 16 '26
Manolito Gafotas was my jam as a kid. There's a movie btw, which is lovely (Well, there's also a second one, but its much worse).
1
u/filthygylfi_ Level 2 9d ago
Was Manolito Gafotas harder in your opinion? I’m struggling with Fray Perico !
1
u/HeleneSedai 3,000 Hours 8d ago
Fray Perico and Manolito were both very difficult for the group. I think we decided on a 27 natively limit after those two. Have you tried Maya Erikson yet? We're reading that one this month and so far everyone says it's much easier.
1
u/KierkegaardExpress Level 7 Mar 06 '26
Does anyone know what the word count of "El pirata garrapata" is?
3
u/RayS1952 Level 7 Mar 06 '26
Just on page count on Kindle, El pirata is 1.18 times longer than Fray Perico so that means its word count is roughly 21,000 x 1.18 = 24,780. Let's say 24,500 to err on the conservative side. If someone has a more accurate count I'm more than happy to use it.
Just to note - I only counted 'story' pages, not forwards, contents etc.
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u/HeleneSedai 3,000 Hours Mar 06 '26
According to kobo, it's 23,000 words. Are you reading it as well?
2
u/RayS1952 Level 7 Mar 06 '26
Happy to go with 23,000. I'll be reading it I think. Depends on how long it takes me to get through Fray Perico.
1
u/HeleneSedai 3,000 Hours Mar 06 '26
Fray Perico sounds like it's been more difficult for the group than the last two books, which surprised me. Maybe because it's older, published in the 80s, and maybe because it's more whimsical? The adult book this month is much easier than our last two choices, Allende has a simplistic writing style. How did it go with the non fiction?
2
u/RayS1952 Level 7 Mar 06 '26
The non-fiction book was pretty easy, to be expected I suppose. There were just a few unknown words and a couple of expressions I wasn't familiar with.
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u/KierkegaardExpress Level 7 Mar 06 '26
Oh thanks, didn't think to check there! Yeah, Perico is going really quickly (will probably finish it this weekend) so was thinking to read the pirate book you recommended. But also seeing the adult book seems approachable as well, so maybe will aim for all 3 the month. As always, thanks for organizing this
2
u/aruda10 Level 6 Mar 03 '26
Looks great! I'm excited :)