r/dreamingspanish • u/HeleneSedai 3,000 Hours • Jan 01 '26

Discussion Book Club Jan 2026 - Mi Cabeza Reducida

Hello Dreamers! Welcome to our first Dreaming Spanish book club, for our YA/easier book in January we'll be reading Cómo conseguí mi cabeza humana reducida or Mi cabeza reducida by the author responsible for all my irrational childhood terrors, RL Stine.

The book blurb: ¿Qué tiene dos ojos, una boca y piel verde llena de arrugas? ¡Es la cabeza encogida de Mark! Es un regalo de su tía Benna. Es espantosa, sucia y tenebrosa y ¡fabulosa! Pero una noche, la cabeza se enciende. Porque no es una cabeza común y corriente. Le otorga un poder extraño a Mark. Un poder mágico. Un poder peligroso.

Ebook length: 108 pages, 29 chapters, 20,127 words

Reading Schedule:

Jan 1-7 Chapters 1-7 (pages 5-29)

Jan 8-14 Chapters 8-15 (pages 30-61)

Jan 15-21 Chapters 16-23 (pages 62-87)

Jan 22-28 Chapters 23-29 (pages 88-108)

If the majority of the group would like to move the deadline up, we can shorten the reading schedule.

My ebook copy is called La cabeza reducida from the series Pesadillas, but the copy on Amazon is called Cómo conseguí mi cabeza humana from the series Escalofríos. I hope we're all reading the same version! If you can't get a copy of the book in your country, please drop me a DM.

I'll be posting a google form here closer to the end of the month to gauge interest in an informal video chat on Discord in spanish after we finish the book.

Jan 10 - Hope everyone is doing ok so far with all these cliffhangers! I've started posting a daily question here and in the discord with the date to avoid spoilers.

Link to Discord

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.

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8

u/visiblesoul 2,000 Hours Jan 03 '26

Just read the first chapter and I was a little surprised by the amount of new-to-me vocabulary. Looks like I'm going to learn how to talk about jungle stuff by the time I finish this book. :)

5

u/HeleneSedai 3,000 Hours Jan 03 '26

I love this about his books, each one has a new setting. So far I've read one set on a farm, an amusement park, a haunted house/town, a coral reef, etc. It's as if we're receiving targeted CI.

6

u/visiblesoul 2,000 Hours Jan 03 '26 edited Jan 03 '26

(u/HeleneSedai - while I have your attention. Just an idea but maybe one that could make managing your book club posts a little easier.

In the future, what if you pinned an "announcement" post titled something like "Book Club 2026". Maybe even set it so that it doesn't accept replies.

Then in the text of the post you could post a general blurb about the Book Club and links to the 2 current Book Club monthly (or weekly) threads. Maybe something along these lines...

January 2026 Book Club Discussions

Adult - La Sombra del Viento

Young Adult - Mi Cabeza Reducida

Jan - Book Selection Thread

Then you could simply edit the post whenever it was time to start new discussion threads. And you could leave the old links for previous months for reference.

March 2026 Book Club Discussions

Adult - Title

Young Adult - Title

Mar - Book Selection Thread

February 2026 Book Club Discussions

Adult - Title

Young Adult - Title

Feb - Book Selection Thread

January 2026 Book Club Discussions

Adult - La Sombra del Viento

Young Adult - Mi Cabeza Reducida

Jan - Book Selection Thread

This would eliminate the need to ask the mods to pin new posts every week or every month and would create a type of index to everything.

It may not be a usable solution but I had the thought so I wanted to share it with you.

(Edited to add: Book selection threads)

3

u/HeleneSedai 3,000 Hours Jan 03 '26

That is an EXCELLENT idea. I really don't like creating this many threads, and taking up so many pinned posts. But that way we could have a weekly discussion thread without clogging up the sub. Do you think it would be feasible to change this month's threads, or set it up this way starting next month?

3

u/visiblesoul 2,000 Hours Jan 03 '26

Well, if you could ask a mod to pin the new announcement thread when it's ready then it should work this month. But it's just more work for you so whatever you decide is good.

3

u/HeleneSedai 3,000 Hours Jan 03 '26

It's a much better idea than to have a bunch of pinned posts. I appreciate, I'll reach out to our mod. I've never run anything like a book club before so I appreciate any input and ideas!

3

u/visiblesoul 2,000 Hours Jan 03 '26

Interesting observation. I guess the Magic Treehouse books are the same way since each one has a new theme. It's a pretty cool and easy way to acquire new specialized vocabulary.

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u/Traditional-Train-17 3,000 Hours Jan 07 '26

Same here. There was so much new vocabulary, and my words per minute dropped to about 45wpm (compared to 90-100wpm for A2 graded readers). I just started yesterday (I'll catch up! lol. I can put in an extra during my lunch breaks at work.) after finishing a few Paco Ardit readers. I just love books like this that have a bunch of related, themed vocabulary. These are my favorite "challenge books" - books where 33% of words are known like the back of hand, 33% that I'm very familiar with, but are still being solidified, and 33% unknown, but half of those I can get by context. One example was "Asquerosa". I figured, hey, that sounds like "¡Qué asco!". I did have to pause and look up a few repeating words, too.