Welcome to the second Children’s Novel Club pick: Comet in Moominvalley / ムーミン谷の彗星!
Start date: February 21st
Join the Children’s Novel Club here! 
Summary - Japanese
長い尾をひいたおそろしい彗星が地球にむかってくるというので、いつも静かなムーミン谷は大さわぎに。ムーミントロールは仲よしのスニフと遠くの天文台へ出かけ、彗星をしらべてくることに。道中、スナフキンや可憐なスノークのお嬢さんと友だちになるけれども、ぐんぐん彗星は近づいてきて……。
Summary - English
When Moomintroll learns that a comet will be passing by, he and his friend Sniff travel to a mountain observatory to consult the Professors. Along the way, they have many adventures, but the greatest adventure of all awaits them when they learn that the comet is headed straight for their home in Moominvalley.
Source: Amazon US
How it works
We create a reading schedule with a set number of pages to work through each week. Each week, we create a new discussion thread for that week’s reading. In those threads, we discuss everything from vocabulary and grammar to the characters and story.
How do I join in?
- Get yourself a copy of the book (see “Where to purchase” below)
- Click on the participation poll below to let us know you’re planning to join in
- Set this thread to “watching” so you get updates on the group (go just past the last post in this thread, click on the grey box that says “normal” or “tracking” and change this to “watching”)
Where to purchase
Physical (partial furigana): Amazon JP | CDJapan
Physical (full furigana): Amazon JP | CDJapan
Digital (partial furigana only): Bookwalker (affiliate link)
Reading Schedule
| Week | Start Date | Pages with text | Chapter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Feb 21 | ~8 | 1 part 1 |
| Week 2 | Feb 28 | ~9 | 1 part 2 |
| Week 3 | Mar 7 | ~9 | 1 part 3 |
| Week 4 | Mar 14 | ~9 | 2 |
| Week 5 | Mar 21 | ~12 | 3 part 1 |
| Week 6 | Mar 28 | ~12 | 3 part 2 |
| Week 7 | Apr 4 | ~12 | 3 part 3 |
| Week 8 | Apr 11 | ~16 | 4 |
| Week 9 | Apr 18 | ~14 | 5 part 1 |
| Week 10 | Apr 25 | ~13 | 5 part 2 |
| Week 11 | May 2 | ~25 | 6 |
| Week 12 | May 9 | ~20 | 7 |
| Week 13 | May 16 | ~20 | 8 |
| Week 14 | May 23 | ~19 | 9 part 1 |
| Week 15 | May 30 | ~21 | 9 part 2 and 10 |
Resources and Links
- Jisho is a popular online Japanese-English dictionary.
- ichi.moe is a tool for parsing out sentences. You can type/paste in a whole sentence, and it will try to break it down into individual parts.
Discussion Rules
- Please use spoiler tags for events in the current chapter(s) and refrain from discussing content in future chapters.
- When asking for help, please mention the chapter and page number.
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions, even if they initially seem embarrassing. All of us are here to learn.
- To you lurkers out there: Join the conversation; it’s fun!
Membership
Will you be reading with us?
- Yes
- I’ll read at my own pace
- Maybe
- Not this time
- Is “book” a food?
Which version will you be reading?
- Digital
- Physical
has decided to make a perfect tie, according to the rules of this club that I just made up, I get to decide which option wins. I think we’ll start February 21st, so if anyone is reading along with the current book that gives them some extra time to finish. Plus, I still haven’t ordered my book 
