Coco Learns Spanish Vol. 3

When my daughter finished Vol. 3 she came to me and said she wanted to start over with Vol. 1. She wanted to see what she knew now that she didn't know before. We went back to the first page of Vol. 1 together and she said every word before the button was pressed. Every single one. She laughed every time she beat the book to the answer. We spent two hours redoing Vol. 1 from a position of mastery. That afternoon was a gift I didn't plan.

We finished it months ago in the sense that we've been through every section. But it hasn't gone on a shelf. It lives on the coffee table and gets picked up regularly. My kids return to sections they love, rediscover words they'd forgotten, find new things to notice in the illustrations. A book you return to is a book that gave you more than you took in the first pass. Vol. 3 is that book for our family.

Completely honest durability review from a parent who has had to replace batteries in every other electronic children's product we own: six months of multiple daily uses and the batteries in Vol. 3 are still going strong. The sound hasn't degraded. The buttons haven't stuck. The pages show no significant wear. I bought this expecting to maintain it and I haven't had to once. That is genuinely remarkable.

My mother immigrated when I was nine. She raised me in a language mix that was sometimes difficult and always beautiful. When she heard my children using Vol. 3 she said it felt like she was in the room when they were learning — like her language was present in their childhood the way it was in mine. She doesn't ask to video call anymore. She just shows up. This book brought her closer.

He's five and reading in English. After working through Vol. 3 he told me he wants to read Spanish too because 'the words sound different when I read them.' He's noticed the distinction between spoken and written language in a second language. That's a sophisticated observation for a kindergartner. His school doesn't offer Spanish reading instruction until second grade. We found a tutor. This book created demand.