Juana and Lucus by Juana Medina is a great read.  Juana is a girl form Bogota, Columbia and Lucus is her furry best friend.  Juana finds out that she will be learning English in school, and she is not very excited about it.  She struggles with English and really doesn't see the importance of lerning it.  Then she finds out that if she does well that she will get to go to Spaceland in the United States.  With the help of her family and Lucus she conquers Engish and does a great job while in the United States.  The book is sprinkled with Spanish words with are easy to figure out.  
Juana is a funny child and she reminds me some of Romona in Beezus and Ramona.