Isabel Allende's trilogy

Not quite accurate to call Isabel Allende's trilogy the Latin American answer to Harry Potter, it is a series for young adults that deals with themes of adventure, surrealism, and good versus evil. The three-book set, which is available in English and Spanish, includes La Ciudad de las Bestias (City of Beasts), El Reino del Dragon de Oro (Kingdom of the Golden Dragon) and El Bosque de los Pigmeos (Forest of the Pygmies). Alexander Cold, a teenager from California, accompanies his grandmother, an adventurous and not at all grandmotherly writer for National Geographic, on adventures from the Amazon to the Himalayas to the forests of Africa.

The books are great to practice reading in Spanish, and also good for young adult readers. After reading many of Allende's adult fiction, I enjoyed reading her series for young adults.