I want this to be a “Free for all” and open to all types of Graded Reader books.
We are many who have them, but not necessarily the same ones. And this is where this differs from the Book Clubs; I want everyone to be able to ask about any and all Graded readers. They are a great resource that comes in a good variety of difficulties!
Most of the stories are very short. If you ask about the beginning or middle, no spoiler tag is needed. If you ask about a plot point near the end you should probably put a spoiler blur on it like this.
There are many kinds too, so remember to tell which book you are reading.
If you have any suggestions just let me know! =D
I’m just a huge fan of these books, own such a big bunch of them and seen others post they own some too, would be great to have a place to discuss them! =D
This post is a Wiki. You can help add books to the list =)
I’ve become an affiliate for Japan Shop (Clay and Yumi)
I love and adore all their stuff already, so when they asked for affiliates I gladly signed up!
So if you want amazing low price reading material, and want to support me as well, please look at their site through my affiliate link: TheJapaneseShop
I highly recommend the Reader Bundles! That is a lot of reading material for very low price. The stories comes with translation notes, a short summary in English, an the text without the distraction of translations. So you both get immersion, translation and some trivia (tell more than just a = b) The stories are also very enjoyable. The new bundles have few items at a very lower price. When new items are added you get them for free by email. Also any revisions done later they will send you the updated version, which shows how dedicated they are.
A good place to start:
If you want reading only:
Book List:
Graded Readers
Free Books Online: link
White Rabbit has a great collection here: link
White Rabbit Press App
Graded readers app for ios and Android. Currently 9 stories available, level 0-3. More have been promised to be on the way.
You can decide to hide furigana, and show them when you touch the screen, has audio without the hassle of a CD room or hassle of download.
Audio Files
Ask Graded Readers
One of the most used sets. Has difficulty 0-4. Each one has 3 boxes each, containing separate little booklets per story. Mix of fiction and facts.
Audio Files
Nihongo Tadoku Graded Readers
Has difficulty 0-5. It has 10 boxes, most of them a mix of 2 difficulties (box 1 has three difficulties in one box)
Each box contains a set of booklets with separate stories. Mix of fiction and facts.
Audio Files
Oxfords Let’s Read Japanese
Note; Their levels are not the same as the previous sets. 1 here is closer to 2 in the others.
Parallel Texts
Generally much harder than Graded Readers, but comes with translation and notes so you don’t have to spend a lot of time looking things up. Some are more difficult than others.
Free: Edu Stories
Read Japanese like a pro with free bilingual texts.
Japanese Readers by Clay and Yumi
Learn Japanese with Stories - 10 Volumes Bundle
These are books with a few stories in each. There are many books in this series and they are consistently making new ones. Contains translations and notes. These are some of the easiest in this category, while still being harder than graded readers (at least the lower levels). It gives you all the help you need to understand it all, and you don’t have to look everything up.
Penguin Short Stories Parallel Text
Breaking into Japanese Literature
Amazon
Original Japanese stories
Read Real Japanese Essays
Amazon
Read Real Japanese Fiction
Amazon
Parallel Texts in other languages
Feel free to add Parallel Texts translated to other languages than English
Main focus will be Japanese/English though, but other languages are welcome =^_^=
German
Readers from the Aya Puster Verlag
The Aya Puster Verlag has 8 readers right now. I would say, they are at around JLPT N4-N3. The Readers always have a german translation from all the stories in the second half of the books and they are quit cheap. Each reader costs around 10€. They have readers which are specialised on different prefectures, like " Kyushu Daisuki I" and readers with folktales and such stuff, for example " Minwa - Alte Volksmärchen aus Japan in sehr einfachem Japanisch".
Here’s a link to there page: Aya Puster Verlag - Leichte Lektüre
Bilingual Books
Similarly to Parallel Texts, these provide the text in translated form as well as Japanese, but they don’t include word breakdowns or text analysis or anything. They’re often a bit easier though because they’re usually aimed at children.
Japanese Myths, Legends & Folktales
Tuttle
A collection of twelve folk tales. The text is fairly separated so it’s easy to avoid ‘cheating’. It was previously published as “A Treasury of Japanese Folktales” with a red cover.