Elementary school level books?

[smoloney]

Hey, I was wondering if anyone knows any popular book series that are about 4th-6th grade level? The kind of comparison I'm going for is something like Goosebumps, Animorphs, etc. Something about that difficulty in English, that would be same level in japanese. It doesn't need to be in all hiragana or anything, but just something simple and easier to read for young children that I could start on. Even if you just know the name of the books, it could be helpful =). I could find a way to get them myself. Thanks.

[Airth]

I don't know anything about this at all, but as no-one else is picking up on your query I thought I'd have a look around. If you do a search for something like 5年生向け (aimed at 5th grade) and 本 or 小説 you will end up with a few leads. I tried it and actually found a page on Amazon that lists books under the category 小学5-6年生向け - http://tinyurl.com/27otdp.
I hope you find it of some help.

[cazun]

http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/kidsold/hanashi/r_s_txt.html
This link is a famous essay for 6 grade which is written by Japanese novelist Ryotaro Shiba(1923-1996).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryotaro_Shiba

You might feel just difficult,but i recomend to read this essay.Because you can learn Japanese mind from this.

上記のリンクは小学6年生のために司馬遼太郎が書いたエッセイです。
少し難しいかもしれませんが、正しい日本語や、日本の心を学ぶのにとてもよいと思います。

[Michelle]

I'm not sure how helpful this will be, but this might be the appropriate amazon.co.jp category:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/s/ref=nb_ss_b/5 ... .y=0&Go=Go
(the link points to books for Japanese authors for 6-7 year old kids. You can change the ages in the search box if you'd like)

You can click on the books and use the list links (for example,
http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E8%AA%AD%E3%81 ... 73-1125558)
to see what Japanese people recommend.

[Garyuchin]

I would recommend manga "Figure 17" for year 6 - but it might be a bit too rough for year 4, given that two characters die.

"Mama is a fourth grader" would be excellent for ranges year 4 to 6 beyond doubt.


I'll check prices and availability on my favourite Japan based shop site but I'm not sure that they can be supplied「ママは小学4年生」in particular is kind of old.

[annie]

I really enjoyed Akagawa Jiro's (赤川次郎) Mystery Collection (ミステリーコレクション).
There are loads of books in the series. It's written at a 5th or 6th grade level, I think. (furigana on the 6th grade kanji) and was quite popular with the 1st year junior high school girls.

I only read the first one in the series, and am not entirely sure that the subject matter would be appropriate for 4th-6th graders though... i was a bit horrified at the high school girl marrying her homeroom teacher and the father that said it would be okay for his h.s.-aged daughter to marry her boyfriend who was graduating from University.

[Garyuchin]

The stories that I recommended earlier don't have a particularly advanced romantic themes, being more in the phantasy genre... come to think of it, 「魔法少女たい」is an option too. Figure 17 lends an insight into a number of facets of Japanese culture in addition to having a very engaging story line. Manga is useful because you get to see what is happening and make connections visually with the words.


aside:

Red River hasn't been particularly memorable for me - beyond knowing that I have read at least one volume of English translation, there is nothing I can recall about it.

English translations tend to alter the ages of people in these relationships (27 tends to get reduced to 23, and 15 increased to 16 or even 17).

I have seen plenty of relationships flourish , despite all obstacles, simply because the couple have treated each other with respect and consideration. I have seen none that flourish simply because the couple are of a like age. I therefore remain mystified by all the horror expressed at a couple being of disparate ages.