As mentioned before, it’s not native material. The grammar is around N5-N4.
Was it an interesting read? Did it feel like a series of example sentences from a textbook, or like a good narrative?
Thanks for clarifying my mistake. I must have made a mistake in understanding what was written on the site. It’s not like I’m learning Japanese or anything 
@Micki’s questions mirror my own. Being simple writing geared toward learners makes it perfect for absolute beginner reading material, so the focus thus is on if it’s interesting enough to hold readers. (I mean, aside from the usual huge decline we typically see over the life of reading a book or manga.)
Considering you’ve read it before, I’m more inclined to figure it was interesting enough for you to recommend it!
1 Like
Wanted to share some books at this level I’ve found/purchased that other people might find interesting. Not so much nominations because physical only or cost prohibitive so I don’t know if they would really be selected.
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徳間アニメ絵本 Ghibli picture books in particular Spirited Away
https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/宮崎-駿/dp/4198614067/
There’s one for every Ghibli movie, some are 2 volumes like Mononoke or Nausicaa. Has beautiful art stills from the movies, furigana for any kanji, spacing and commas so it’s very easy to read.
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心やさしく賢い子に育つ みじかいおはなし366: おはなしプレ
https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/dp/4092172796
This book has a one page story/science fact/holiday info/biography for every day for a year. Meant for a parent to read to their child but does contain furigana for all kanji.
You can see a list of all chapter titles here:
目次：心やさしく賢い子に育つみじかいおはなし３６６ おはなしプレＮＥＯ/小学館 - 紙の本：honto本の通販ストア
and examples here they posted for free:
【休校支援！音声付き無料公開】「心やさしく賢い子に育つ みじかいおはなし３６６」１日１話で子供の好奇心に火をつけよう！ | HugKum（はぐくむ）
There’s also an audiobook version on audible so you can listen when reading or practice listening only. It’s expensive but if you have a free trial for audible it does qualify.
https://www.audible.ca/pd/心やさしく賢い子に育つ みじかいおはなし366-Audiobook/B07XR9ZMCY -
世界を変えた人たち365
https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/dp/4522431740
Similar style to the book above, but each page has a biography about an influential person or invention. People who enjoyed the 10 minute biography book might enjoy this.
Chapter titles: 目次：世界を変えた人たち３６５ 生きる力を育てる新時代の伝記/田島 信元 - 紙の本：honto本の通販ストア -
都道府県のおはなし 低学年
https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/dp/4053044235
Has a short story for every prefecture in Japan and a couple reading comprehension questions for each. The stores are pretty short and simple.
Chapter titles:
おはなしドリル『都道府県のおはなし 低学年』 ｜ 学研出版サイト
6 Likes
Thanks for sharing these ideas @Pikkiri! I didn’t find ebook versions of any of these unfortunately but we have read books that exist in hardcopy only in the past (Yotsuba being the most famous one!).
I think this one is worth adding to the nomination list. I could put this together in the nomination format. Here is the listings of the contents page, with a translation from Deepl:
Summary
日本地図／都道府県って，なに？／北海道 野生のどうぶつに出会える／青森県 にぎやかな，ねぶたまつり／岩手県 ぎざぎざの，リアス海岸／宮城県 おいしいお米にひとめぼれ／秋田県 なまはげは，こわい？／山形県 大すき，さくらんぼ／福島県 五色ぬまのひみつ／茨城県 なっとうで，元気／栃木県 日光のおさるさん／群馬県 こんにゃくで，おなかすっきり／埼玉県 人気のおやつ，草加せんべい／千葉県 日本の空のげんかん／東京都 東京タワーと，東京スカイツリー／神奈川県 みなと町，横浜／新潟県 てんねんきねんぶつの，とき／富山県 「しんきろう」って，なに？／石川県 にぎやかな，朝市／福井県 冬のごちそう，えちぜんがに／山梨県 なしではなく，ぶどう／長野県 夏でもすずしい気こう／岐阜県 がっしょうづくりの家／静岡県 八十八夜の茶つみ／愛知県 金のしゃちほこと，三えいけつ／三重県 しんじゅのひみつ／滋賀県 信楽のたぬき／京都府 千年のみやこ／大阪府 おわらいと，たこやき／兵庫県 サイダーのたん生／奈良県 大仏さまと，しか／和歌山県 うめ～，うめ／鳥取県 さきゅうって，なに？／島根県 宍道湖のしじみ／岡山県 ももたろうと，きびだんご／広島県 安芸の宮島／山口県 秋吉台と，秋芳洞／徳島県 あわおどりって，なに？／香川県 おいしい，さぬきうどん／愛媛県 みかん王国／高知県 かつおの一本づり／福岡県 学問のかみさま／佐賀県 有明海ののりと，むつごろう／長崎県 カステラのひみつ／熊本県 「い草」って，なに？／大分県 おんせんが，いっぱい！／宮崎県 南国のマンゴー／鹿児島県 おやつにも，さつまいも／沖縄県 うつくしい海と，シーサー
Map of Japan / What are prefectures? Hokkaido: Where you can meet wild animals / Aomori: The lively Nebuta Festival / Iwate: The jagged rias coast / Miyagi: Delicious rice and Hitomebore / Akita: Are Namahage scary? Yamagata: Cherries, a favorite / Fukushima: The secret of Goshiki-numa / Ibaraki: Natto, a healthy food / Tochigi: Monkeys in Nikko / Gunma: Konjac, a refreshing snack / Saitama: Soka senbei, a popular snack / Chiba: Japan’s sky landmarks / Tokyo: Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Sky Tree / Kanagawa: Minato-machi, Yokohama Niigata Prefecture: The time of the natural age / Toyama Prefecture: What is a Shinkiro? A lively morning market / Ishikawa / Fukui Prefecture Echizen crab, a winter treat / Yamanashi Prefecture Grapes, not pears / Nagano Prefecture Cool summer air / Gifu Prefecture Gashouzukuri no ie / Shizuoka Prefecture Eighty-eight nights of tea gathering / Aichi Prefecture Golden shachihoko and three heroes / Mie Prefecture Shinju no hihitsu / Shiga Prefecture Shigaraki tanuki / Kyoto Prefecture A thousand years of Owarai and Takoyaki (octopus dumplings) / Hyogo / Nara / The Great Buddha and the Deer / Wakayama / Ume, Ume / Tottori / What is Sakyu? Shimane: Shijimi clams from Lake Shinji / Okayama: Momotaro and kibidango / Hiroshima: Aki-no-Miyajima / Yamaguchi: Akiyoshidai and Akiyoshido Cave / Tokushima: What’s awaodori? Kagawa Prefecture: Delicious Sanuki Udon / Ehime Prefecture: The Kingdom of Mandarin Oranges / Kochi Prefecture: Katsuo no Ippon Zuri / Fukuoka Prefecture: Study Goddess / Saga Prefecture: Ariake Sea Nori and Mutugoro / Nagasaki Prefecture: Secrets of Castella / Kumamoto Prefecture: What is Igusa? Oita Prefecture: A lot of onsen! Miyazaki Prefecture: Tropical mangoes / Kagoshima Prefecture: Sweet potatoes for snacks / Okinawa Prefecture: The beautiful sea and Shisa (sea squirts)
Translated with DeepL Translate: The world's most accurate translator (free version)
Here is a picture of the inside of the book that was shared on Amazon. Do you own the book? Would you be able to share pictures of one or two more pages?
1 Like
Summary:
Hanato Kobato is on a mission: she has a wish she wants granted. To do this, she has to mend the wounded hearts of the people she meets on her journey and fill up a magical bottle with the suffering she has relieved. The only catch is, she can’t fall in love with any of the people she helps. It seems like that’s the least of her problems, though; Kobato has no clue how to mend hearts . . . especially since each person’s heart is different. So what’s Kobato to do? Well, she has Ioryogi-san, a cute blue dog with a seriously bad attitude, to help (read: nag and critique) her . . . Yikes! Looks like the road to getting her one wish is going to be a long and hard one. Will Kobato get her wish in the end? And just what is it that Kobato wants? - From Amazon
A very cute slice of life with a few magical elements. There are 10 chapters within the first volume.
Pros:
All kanji within text bubbles have furigana next to them, about the same size as the current book in club.
In the first volume, the chapters do not need to be read in order to make sense.
Kobato is a very easy character to understand throughout the book.
There is a chapter that focuses on Japanese Christmas and another on Japanese New Year’s, I found it a very interesting read.
The entire manga is only 6 volumes long if individuals would like to continue to read it.
Cons:
The character Ioryogi-san has some long speech bubbles.
The story starts to pick up at the end of Volume 1.
Kanji without Furigana appear on some signs and remarks outside of speech bubbles.
There is a misunderstanding at one point where Spoiler
a character misunderstands Kobato for a woman of the night and Kobato has no understanding what they mean. Two characters save her quickly from the situation and nothing actually occurs besides a hand grab and the creep getting punched. A character briefly explains later what the person’s intentions where and Kobato is rightfully horrified. Everything is kept very PG.
Link to buy physical or Digital: https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/CLAMP-ebook/dp/B0093G5XX6/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=こばと&qid=1620507448&s=books&sr=1-2
A few sample pages
Difficulty Poll
How much effort would you need to read this book?
- No effort at all
- Minimal effort
- Just right
- Challenging
- Impossible, even with everyone’s help
- I don’t know (please click this if you’re not voting seriously)
0 voters
2 Likes
Pro for Kobato: Short series for those who’d want to read the whole thing in an offshoot club (six volumes).
Con for Kobato: Occasionally one character giving a long backstory info dump to another character who already knows it, for the sake of informing the reader. (I don’t think it happened until the latter half of the series, though, so volume one should be safe. It’s been forever since I read this series in English to remember for certain.)
It’s been long enough that I’m wondering if I even still have it, or if I culled it to make room for other things…
Yes, please!
1 Like
I would like to nominate Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea! Here is a link to bookwalker to look at sample pages 大海原と大海原. Pros would be that based on the sample pages it seems to have lower text density per page and there’s furigana. Also, the series is just two books which would make it very easy to have an offshoot club for.
Description
An Ocean in Peril!
The young witch Wadanohara has returned from a journey across the sea, only to find that her peaceful ocean home has come under attack from the nefarious Tosatsu Empire. Alongside her faithful familiars – Memoca, Dolphi, and Fukami – Wadanohara promises to do all she can to prevent a terrible war. But when a mysterious figure from her past demands that she leave, can the pure-hearted Wadanohara muster the courage and magic she needs to save the Sea Kingdom once and for all?
Difficulty Poll
How much effort would you need to read this book?
- No effort at all
- Minimal effort
- Just right
- Challenging
- Impossible, even with everyone’s help
- I don’t know (please click this if you’re not voting seriously)
0 voters
5 Likes
Yeah, I’ve read that in English. It feels extremely truncated, like they had more plans but got cancelled.
Oh that’s kind of a bummer 
I know it’s based off an RPG. I wonder if the game has more to it?
I did some quick research and it seems like the actual game gets pretty dark where its rated probably older teen, so they cut out some of the arcs and content so it could be marketed to a younger audience.
2 Likes
There’s other books in this series too. I think most of the are 2 pages/story vs 1 for this one.
https://www.amazon.co.jp/s?k=おはなしドリル&ref=nb_sb_noss
1 Like
都道府県のおはなし 低学年 (おはなしドリル) - Stories of the Japanese Prefectures (Lower grade reader)
Thanks to @Pikkiri for recommending this book!
Summary
This book takes you on a tour of Japan, visiting each prefecture and telling a short story from that area. The book is set out with one page per prefecture. There are 47 stories in total. The top part of the page contains the story, and the bottom part some reading comprehension questions. This book is aimed at children in Grades 1 and 2 of primary school.
Availability
CD Japan : Amazon Japan - Price: ¥715 (¥650 without Japanese tax)
As far as I can see there is no ebook.
Pros and Cons for the Book Club
Pros
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Text size looks relatively large
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Furigana on the kanji
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Broken up into short sections - one page per chapter
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Get to learn about Japan
Cons
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Some words usually written in kanji are written in hiragana (common feature of these lower grade readers)
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No ebook
Table of Contents
Summary
Translated with DeepL Translate: The world's most accurate translator (free version)
Map of Japan: What are prefectures?
Hokkaido: Where you can meet wild animals
Aomori: The lively Nebuta Festival
Iwate: The jagged rias coast
Miyagi: Delicious rice and Hitomebore
Akita: Are Namahage scary?
Yamagata: Cherries, a favorite
Fukushima: The secret of Goshiki-numa
Ibaraki: Natto, a healthy food
Tochigi: Monkeys in Nikko
Gunma: Konjac, a refreshing snack
Saitama: Soka senbei, a popular snack
Chiba: Japan’s sky landmarks
Tokyo: Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Sky Tree
Kanagawa: Minato-machi
Yokohama Niigata Prefecture: The time of the natural age
Toyama Prefecture: What is a Shinkiro?
A lively morning market Ishikawa
Fukui Prefecture Echizen crab, a winter treat
Yamanashi Prefecture Grapes, not pears
Nagano Prefecture: Cool summer air
Gifu Prefecture: Gashouzukuri no ie
Shizuoka Prefecture: Eighty-eight nights of tea gathering
Aichi Prefecture: Golden shachihoko and three heroes
Mie Prefecture: Shinju no hihitsu
Shiga Prefecture: Shigaraki tanuki
Kyoto Prefecture: A thousand years of Owarai and Takoyaki (octopus dumplings)
Hyogo prefecture: Tansei cider
Nara Prefecture: The Great Buddha and the Deer
Wakayama Prefecture: Ume, Ume!
Tottori Prefecture: What is Sakyu?
Shimane: Shijimi clams from Lake Shinji
Okayama: Momotaro and kibidango
Hiroshima: Aki-no-Miyajima
Yamaguchi: Akiyoshidai and Akiyoshido Cave
Tokushima: What’s awaodori?
Kagawa Prefecture: Delicious Sanuki Udon
Ehime Prefecture: The Kingdom of Mandarin Oranges
Kochi Prefecture: Katsuo no Ippon Zuri
Fukuoka Prefecture: Study Goddess
Saga Prefecture: Ariake Sea Nori and Mutugoro
Nagasaki Prefecture: Secrets of Castella
Kumamoto Prefecture: What is Igusa?
Oita Prefecture: A lot of onsen!
Miyazaki Prefecture: Tropical mangoes
Kagoshima Prefecture: Sweet potatoes for snacks
Okinawa Prefecture: The beautiful sea and Shisa (sea squirts)
Pictures
Difficulty Poll
How much effort would you need to read this book?
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No effort at all
-
Minimal effort
-
Just right
-
Challenging
-
Impossible, even with everyone’s help
-
I don’t know (please click this if you’re not voting seriously)
0 voters
7 Likes
ミラーさん (Mr Miller)
Thanks to @emucat for recommending this book!
Summary
The novelization of “Minna no Nihongo” - a popular Japanese textbook.
This is a novel featuring Mike Miller, which can be read after completing the beginner level of this textbook.
The story follows the conversations, example sentences, exercises and questions in Minna no Nihongo for Beginners I, so it will be more enjoyable for those who have studied the Minna no Nihongo series thoroughly (or, presumably, similar level of another textbook).
The stories are written within the vocabulary and grammar of Minna no Nihongo for Beginners I and II, making them ideal for students who have already completed the beginner level. You will feel a sense of achievement in having read a whole novel in Japanese.
Amazon says it consists of 18 short independent stories, but Emucat who has read the book says it reads as a novel split into chapters.
Availability
Physical: CD Japan : Amazon JP
Ebook: Book Walker : Kindle
Price: 1100 Yen (1000 Yen without Japanese Tax)
Pros and Cons for the Book Club
Pros
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Written for learners - so the grammar and vocab are confined to a more basic level
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Easily available on ebook including amazon.com and amazon.co.uk (i.e. can read on your normal kindle)
Cons
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Not native material
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Content may be more dry, could read a bit like a textbook
Pictures
Table of Contents
Difficulty Poll
How much effort would you need to read this book?
-
No effort at all
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Minimal effort
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Just right
-
Challenging
-
Impossible, even with everyone’s help
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I don’t know (please click this if you’re not voting seriously)
0 voters
4 Likes
I’ve added all the nominations so far into the list in the opening post. I’ve also created a more detailed nomination post for the two books that had been suggested.
@JCT - Thanks for your nomination of Kobato! In the nomination post could you give a bit more information please? What is the basic plot of the story, what makes you think it would be a good read, and what do you think are the pros and cons of this manga for the Absolute Beginner Book Club. Could you also add the difficulty poll for people to rate the difficulty please?
@bearytoast - Thanks for your nomination of Wadonohara and the Great Blue Sea! Could you add some example pages to your nomination post please? People will have a few books to consider when voting so it’s helpful to have this within the nomination post itself. Would you also be able to add the difficulty poll please?
## Difficulty Poll
How much effort would you need to read this book?[poll type=regular public=true]
* No effort at all
* Minimal effort
* Just right
* Challenging
* Impossible, even with everyone’s help
* I don’t know (please click this if you’re not voting seriously)
[/poll]
6 Likes
Thank you for adding my nomination. I really appreciate it! I think I added everything you asked for, but if there is anything else I need to do please let me know. 
2 Likes
Made the edits and thank you for the nomination! Please let me know if you would like any additional information added. Thank you for making the Difficulty Poll very easy to add, still figuring out how all the features work.
1 Like
