Brazilian Portuguese Books?

January 31, 2009 11:18 AM

Help me find some (somewhat easy to read) books in Brazilian Portuguese!

I have a relatively good grasp on grammar and vocab in Brazilian Portuguese, but I can only learn so much of the language through simple textbook sentences. What are some books that have relatively easy (elementary/middle school) reading levels that were originally written in Portuguese? Any websites with a decent selection of books in Portuguese (originally or translated from English)?

posted by comwiz to society & culture (5 comments total)

I've picked up a few Portuguese books recently from bookmooch.com. It's basically a bookswapping site, so you'd have to give up some of your current books (not necessarily in Portuguese) to get books from the site.

My criteria are a little different than yours -- I'm looking primarily for Portuguese translations of books I've already read in English so I could focus on the words and not so much the plot, which I'm already familiar with. But I think you might still be able to find some basic Portuguese books there that will meet your needs. I've definitely seen some children's / YA books on the list if I browse by country and choose Brazil.
posted by jacquilynne at 12:01 PM on January 31

How about The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho? The reading level is rather easy. It was written in Brazilian Portuguese and has been translated into dozens of languages, including English.
posted by dreaming in stereo at 12:34 PM on January 31

You could read some books by Monteiro Lobato, a prominent name in Brazilian children's literature/fairy tales.

Also, surprisingly, the terrific Brazilian bookseller Livraria Cultura ships books fairly quickly and inexpensively to the U.S. (and I assume other countries) from Brazil.
posted by umbú at 5:38 PM on January 31

I second the books by Coelho! You can (or could) download them online, to test them out.

Also (and maybe someone will disagree with me) I find Jose Saramago very readable in Portuguese (but want to hang myself if reading in English).

I un-recommend Machado de Assis.
posted by whatzit at 5:16 AM on February 1

Also, you need to check out the international children's digital library. That will keep you busy for a while.
posted by whatzit at 5:18 AM on February 1