Japanese readers for beginner?

[watermen]

Can someone suggest me some easy Japanese readers for a beginner like me?

[Javizy]

A lot of people rate the Japanese Graded Readers series from the White Rabbit Press. There are four levels with two parts each, comprised of five storybooks with furigana and an audio CD with readings of the stories. Level 2 Part 1 was extremely easy though, and I kind of felt like I wasted my money, so I don't know what one to recommend.

The original ぴっかぴかコミックス ドラえもん series is fairly easy to read, and has all sorts of everyday vocabulary and other useful expressions. Naturally it's very casual though.

Other than that I don't know of any easy books to read, I just bought some random furigana ones from a second-hand bookshop. I'd actually like to know some myself. There are loads on Yes Asia, but they don't find it necessary to tell you if they have furigana or not.

[NickT]

I have read all of the Japanese Graded Readers books, and I thought they were great. Sure, some of the lower levels are a bit easy, but then that is the point, isn't it? If you found Level 2 too easy, then try level 3 and level 4. Personally I started on Level 1, the easiest level, even though they were far too easy for me, and worked my way up to level 4 reading all of the books inbetween. Level 4 was pretty challenging, I thought, but still within my grasp.

If you are worried about the expense, you can resell them on eBay after you have read them, and get back most of the cost. I thought the whole set was pretty cheap myself, and well worth the money. But then, that is probably just because of the exchange rate at the moment - If you are American it would work the other way around, as the dollar is right down the crapper.

I have also read some of the Doraemon books, and I think they are reasonably good for beginners. Honestly though, I think the Doraemon books are more challenging and than the JGR series, and might be quite hard for a beginner. You can get bilingual versions of some of the Doraemon books though, with an English translation alongside the Japanese, which are quite good.

At a beginners level, there really isn't much available I'm afraid. Even at intermediate level it is a struggle finding any authentic Japanese texts which are easy enough.. It is only at upper intermediate / advanced that things start to open up.

[Javizy]

The JGR series aren't expensive as such, I'm just on a bit of a tight budget, and could get about five or six Manga for the same price. They are very well presented, and the stories were quite interesting, so I will probably try level 4 at some point.

I agree, Doraemon is challenging for me at times. It may be aimed at children, but children can still speak fluent Japanese, so you really need to know a lot of grammar, vocabulary, and slang also. There are children's books that are simpler, but are written in practically all hiragana, so they're just as much of a nightmare.

I think at the beginner stage, you should try reading but not necessarily focusing on every word/construction. If you can grasp what's going on, then you're doing well enough, and are still able to review vocabulary and grammar, and as well as kanji, that you do know through the reading process.