The Book of Life in Spanish class

Inside: The Book of Life in Spanish class. Free novice Spanish movie guide for The Book of Life or El Libro de la Vida. The Book of Life movie questions for Spanish class. The Book of life Spanish class activities.

Originally posted 4.13.15 by Allison Wienhold – updated 10.15.26

The Book of Life in Spanish class

When this post was first published on April 13, 2015, it was in the middle of our Tumba unit in Spanish I. I was planning on watching and discussing the cute animated film El Libro de Vida or The Book of Life in Spanish. It is a fun animated movie that I knew my students would love. I had the chance to take my Spanish club to it the movie theater for a field trip in the fall of 2014. It is full of the culture of the Day of the Dead and Mexico.

Kara Jacobs shared her awesome upper-level guide in Spanish here. Her guide is all in Spanish and would be perfect for an upper-level class.

The Book of Life Spanish Movie Guide for Novice Spanish

Since I wanted to use this film in Spanish 1, I knew I needed a more simple guide in English. Just like I did with my novice guide for the movie Canela, adapted from Kara, I have made a novice guide for the Book of Life. I shared this novice adaptation with Kara’s permission. Some classes may not need the questions in English to help follow along. But, my particular high school Spanish language Spanish 1 class at the time worked better with something in front of them to keep on task at the end of the school year. 

I’ve since used my Mis Clases Locas Book of Life movie guide with middle school, 7th & 8th grade exploratory. I’ve also paired it with the full class novel Tumba. 

The Book of Life

PG, 2014, 1h 35m, Family/Fantasy, Animated

This cartoon movie about the Day of the Dead is perfect for Spanish class Day of the Dead unit. The Book of Life tells the story of Manolo. He is a young man torn between fulfilling his family’s expectations and following his heart. Throughout his beautiful story, Manolo learns valuable lessons about life and death. He also gets a visit from La Muerte or La Catrina. 

This underrated animated film has cultural significance of vibrant celebrations of Mexican heritage. It stars Zoe Saldaña & Diego Luna. 

El Libro de Vida is visually stunning and full of vibrant colors and vibrant visuals, making it perfect for a Día de muertos lesson plan. 

Since The Book of Life is a little older, not as many students have watched this film. A great way & the perfect cartoon movie about the Day of the Dead for Spanish class and Spanish speakers. A great option if you were looking for a Mexican Day of the Dead animated movie.

• El Libro de Vida novice film guide – comprehensive resource & lesson plans for novice Spanish learning

The Book of Life Movie Questions for Spanish class

My novice guide for The Book of Life with English questions could also be used with the movie as a substitute lesson plan for a non-Spanish speaker. 

In the years that followed this post, I have used my novice guide for The Book of Life many times. It was especially used in my exploratory Spanish classes. This guide was my go-to end-of-quarter activity.

More Book of Life Spanish Activities for the Movie

**Update – Here is a Character Introduction slideshow for The Book of Life characters created by Sr. Wood & shared with permission.

Beyond The Book of Life

Check out the Best Movies to Teach the Day of the Dead.

In the years that followed, I also started using Coco in multiple levels of Spanish. I have a guide for Coco that could work for any level you teach. It is in both Spanish and English.  The Coco guide has character descriptions and matching, versions in Spanish and English, as well as post-viewing questions and matching, which could be used as an assessment. I have used versions of this one guide with every level I taught, Exploratory through Spanish 4. *At the bottom of this post you can get Coco bonus activities too*

 

More resources for the Day of the Dead & Halloween in Spanish Class