The Iceberg Project Italian

The Iceberg Project was created from a desire to travel to Italy & speak the language with ease, comfort and confidence. Now, you'll find addictive language & culture lessons for students eager to become conversational in Italian.

Books to Read for the Beginner Italian Student

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Books to Read for the Beginner Italian Student

 

We get a lot of readers who check out Cher’s top 10 books she loves in Italian and many who read about how to discuss these beloved (or hated) libri but both of these articles are for the more advanced learner.

After seeing emails come through asking for beginner books, we thought it would be great to compile a list of easier-to-read books that we’ve enjoyed as well as some for the more advanced readers.

Here are some of our favorites for all levels.

11 Beginner – Advanced Books to Help You Study Italian

1) Rachele e il mare – A cute pop up book about a girl and her adventures under the water. You can learn lots of new Italian words pertaining to sea life from this read! (Level: Beginner)

2) Pezzettino – A heartwarming story with a great message about being yourself. (Level: Beginner)

3) Le sei storie delle emozioni – Six stories about six different emotions. Another great book for learning new vocabulary! (Level: Beginner / advanced beginner)

4) Piccole storie per bambini di 2 anni -Don’t let the title scare you (a two year old’s vocab is pretty vast), this a great read to practice your Italian and increase your level. Practice reading it out loud for double the learning whammy. (Level: Beginner / advanced beginner)

5) Storie della buonanotte per bambine ribelli. 100 vite di donne straordinarie – An amazing book on famous and fabulous females. This is a great book as it has many different sections to read (100 different women) and is a bit more challenging than Rachele e il mare. (Level: Advanced beginner / intermediate)

6) Io e il papu – This is heartwarming story about a boy and his special relationship with Pope Francis. (Level: Intermediate / advanced intermediate)

7) Per questo mi chiamo Giovanni – A fascinating read (chapter book) about the killing of the great anti-mafia judge Giovanni Falcone and a boy who was named after him. (Level: Intermediate / advanced)

8) Il grande libro delle fiabe – Reading fables is a great way to revisit childhood favorites and exercise your brain in Italian. Plus, it’s fun to spot the tiny differences in their versions and ours. (Level: Intermediate / advanced)

9) Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno – Italo Calvino is a classic, famous Italian author and this is one of his best known books. Truly worth a read and to appreciate the fantastic writing. (Level: Advanced intermediate / advanced)

10) Che idea! Le invenzioni che hanno cambiato il mondo -The only book not originally in Italian on this list, still an interesting and mid-level read. I like books that are broken down by separate stories, and this is a great one for that as it allows you to read it piece by piece. (Level: Advanced intermediate / advanced)

11) La luna e i falò – A book about the return home after the liberation in Italy, and the struggles of returning to a country changed, this is considered one of the best books by Pavese. (Level: Advanced)

What books would you add to this list? Do you remember the first book you read in Italian?