With the holidays coming up & subscriptions being a choice for gifts, I thought I would offer my review of High Five Bilingüe. We have been reading the magazine for 2 years now. If you are wondering: the bilingüe version is completely different than the English version (see covers below), so you could pay for double subscriptions or get one for free from your library! I’ll show you how at the end of this post.
Both annual subscriptions cost $39.96, so is the bilingual version worth it?
I say yes, for three years or so!
Magazine History
According to their website, Highlights was established in 1946 by a husband and wife duo experienced in child education and development. Today Highlights’ motto is “children are the world’s most important people.” Highlights is definitely a cultural force that has been featured in shows such as Parks & Rec, Gilmore Girls, and the Simpsons, among others.
High Five Bilingüe was first published in 2014 and received the 2015 Gold National Parenting Publications Award and the 2015 Global Educator Institute Seal of Endorsement. The magazine is geared at 2-5 year olds.
Mailing Logistics
High Five Bilingüe stands apart because half of its content is in Spanish, followed by the translation of the same content in English. You may consider this redundant at first, but it makes sense for two major reasons.
One, other Spanish kid’s magazine subscriptions seem to come from out of the country! Caracola and Nat Geo kids en español are available in Spain, or haphazardly from retailers in the U.S., for example. Algarabía Niños viene de Mexico, although it does have ample digital options for 40 Mexican pesos. Foreign magazines are eventually rich language resources, but for beginning readers this means longer wait times and more advanced Spanish vocabulary. High Five Bilingüe is perfect for beginning bilingual readers and younger children who are being exposed to Spanish at home because, two, readers can compare unfamiliar vocabulary simply by flipping a few pages!
As a busy parent a High Five Bilingüe subscription is easy, affordable, convenient, and predictable. You know you will receive a magazine every month so you make the time to read it and practice your Spanish as a family!
Magazine Content
The magazine opens to Spanish content. At its core, the magazine contains a rhyme, a comic strip featuring Manchas/Spot and two short stories, which are translated into English. The more visual activities—Spot the Difference, What Silly Things Do You See, and Hidden Pictures Puzzle— are bilingual. Each issue also contains a page the focuses on either a craft or STEM/Science experiment, a recipe, or non-fiction content, not all. I think the latter is my biggest complaint about the bilingüe version. Its English counterpart is a pretty thorough publication in that it includes non-fiction and a recipe in every issue!
The bilingüe version usually features a photograph in the introductory rhyme and for the Spot the Differences pages. Different illustrators are featured throughout the magazine, so the art is varied . Because the content repeats, the bilingual version feels a little more flat. But comparing the What Silly Things Do You See pages in the English (Left) and bilingüe version (right) prove that although some may be similar in tones, the art is still pretty varied.
Another bone I have to pick is definitely with the TITLES! Each cover is absolutely different each month and yet this year alone the words “ven” or “vamos” was featured in 9/12 issues. They even used the exact same titles 6 times, haha. I think this is definitely minor pickings but if they are going to produce a whole magazine, I feel the title is the cherry on top.
Overall, the stories and rhymes included in the bilingual version are wholesome. Yago does not struggle too much with vocabulary and can usually read from cover to cover in one sitting. The magazine carries a mix of humor and exposition within it, which usually captivates my toddler. I think by end of first grade most fluent Spanish speakers may have outgrown the content!
I definitely recommend getting the print version of High Five Bilingüe for toddlers and beginning readers. Because High Five Bilingüe seems to cycle with the same publications every 3 years (judging by the back issues on a library database), I would not suggest paying for the subscription for longer than that!
Other Magazine Options
Once your Spanish reader is more fluent, I recommend moving him up to a publication geared towards older children. Caracola, as I mentioned above, or Explora, is a beautiful, U.S. based option that was born out of the pandemic and geared towards ages 7-12 years. A “bookazine” that seems well-written, well-presented, and promises to be worth the $10 and deliver more.
Check out the interactive pages for the Frida issue below:
I am very happy that High Five Bilingüe is an option for bilingual families. I am sad that the publisher is not committing resources to create new content but it is definitely a good option to begin reading Spanish consistently.
If you want to check out either the bilingual or English version of the magazine before committing to a subscription, let me walk you through the steps for doing so below.
How to Access Highlights Products From FBCL
Fort Bend County Libraries carries the original Highlights, High Five, and High Five Bilingüe through the Flipster magazine database. The pros about using this library system is that patrons can access more back issues through Flipster and FBCL. Flipster takes the Bilingüe issues back to 2016. Flipster does not offer much Spanish content, as pictured below:
TO ACCESS: From the FBCL homepage, under the Books, eLibrary & More tab click Download Magazines -> Flipster -> enter library card number-> type High Five in database search box. Both publications should pop up. Select the one you want to read!
How to Access Highlights Products From Brazoria County Libraries
BCLS uses Pressreader to access magazines. While Pressreader only offers up to five back issues of Highlights magazines, I like that they have a bigger selection of Spanish content for children & adults than Flipster. Through BCLS you have unlimited reads/downloads!
There are STACKS of Spanish periodical content for adults.
Below are the options in Spanish for Children & Tweens:
TO ACCESS: From the BCLS home page click on the ebranch tab-> Digital Magazines & Newspapers -> PressReader (accept proceed to site option)-> Click Log in on top right corner-> Select Library or Group option-> type “Brazoria” in search box-> type in library card number and PIN-> You are free to browse! Type publication in search box.
Let’s hope Highlights decides to create new content for High Five Bilingüe. If anything, you can subscribe for half a year for $25 so that your thirst for Spanish content is triggered ^_~. As a gift option I think it is a SPLENDID idea. For less than $40 you are giving a family a stream of Spanish content coming into their home for a whole year!
The links below mention Spanish magazines that may work for babies & teens, which I did not cover in this post:
- 10 Engaging Spanish Magazines for Kids By Homeschool Spanish Academy
- Top Spanish Magazines for Kids By Bilingual Balance
Biblioterika 
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