You could have a look at some of the books for which there are vocab lists you can study on FloFlo Moe.
Make a list of any that sound interesting and then look out for those in bookstores.
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Last time I was in Japan, I bought a few volumes of Dr. Slump and I’m really enjoying them. I don’t get all of it being a beginner, but enough to appreciate the jokes, not to mention sweet art style. I also got a few volumes of Hikaru no Go, which I loved as a teen. I figured I may be able to pick up a few things just from context.
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I loved the Kanji Books for Grade 1 and 2. They might differ from place to place but I remember well illustrated colourful comic style books until Grade 3 when they rapidly became a bit boring…
I also really like the Nihongo Kantan series.
And be sure to stock up on stationary!
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I haven’t heard of that one yet. What exactly is in it? 
It may be out pf print.
It was produced specifically for kids at an American International school in Japan.
I had all three books by the time I left Japan, but because I left due to a health emergency in 1999, they did not follow me back to Africa.
The grammar progresses naturally with very simple explanations:
If you want to say ### kind of thing, you will say ***** to say it in Japanese.
There is no romaji at all, and kanji are introduced gradually.
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I started with your link, did some random clicking when I did not understand and came upon this delightful story…
Which eventually lead me to these great words in jisho:屁理 and 屁理屈屋!
I’ll keep in mind the 3rd and 4th grade books then. Ideally I will like to buy material that will last me at least 6 months or so and my fairly slow but so far constant learning speed. Thanks!
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OK, now I understand what to look for.
I’ll guees I’ll pick up 3-4 Grade levels maybe as I do hope to have Kanji in there.
As I have mainly used WaniKani or hearing ressources I am not use to reading words in Hiragana only… As in my head readings are 90% associated to the Kanji meaning
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I think I want something with a sense of fulfillment I was more or less able to understand the lower part of this advertisement. Only had to look up one Kanji and it made me fill awesome. Like WK rlly pays off
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Thanks I’ve noted them down. So far no luck with the cats here for photos… I definitely missed this spot in Himeji Castle. Always leave something for next time!
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It’s such an amazing feeling when you can actually put what you’ve learned into practice.
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I would recommend trying this book.
Its for native Japaneses kids.
Have you read it? I also stumbled on it on amazon, but since you can’t look inside and there’s no pictures of the actual content it’s hard to judge. 
It’s also for 1st graders, but where there’s one, the other grades usually aren’t too far off.
This store has some pictures.
The stories seem to include real stories from major authors (ones that I only know from Bungo Stray Dogs). I guess they simplify them to cater to the school grade?
Currently reading through the 3rd grade one but would probably read all of them if shipping was free.
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Thanks!
I love how they explain words they expect their target audience not to know!
I am currently reading the series called “Japanese Graded Readers”. There are 5 levels: 0-4. Each level consists of three collections of 5 small books each.
I started at level 1 and with only basic Japanese language skills, I am able to read these stories. The difficulty at level 1 is just about right at my level (1 year of studying on/off in my spare time), and it has given me the sense of progress and satisfaction, when I have been able to read a whole story in Japanese (although with furigana). Japanese graded readers - Easy reading material to start with
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Hi,
This also seems like a great option. Specially as a series. Not sure now if I have enough room in my suitcase!
so many good suggestions so far
Is jy miskien 'n slang van Suidafrika?
If you can’t look inside a book on Japanese Amazon then look if there are little pictures underneath the book’s cover page. Even if you can look inside the book, sometime these also exist and show different pages.
I have been using both for reading practice since someone put up these links.
Since I am not actually under 10 year old, I don’t mind not getting to the end of the story! Just today I was reading a page, when a note confused me… I used my screen shot tool to paste it into paint.
Then I used jisho to create the following picture:
Half the problem was the katakana, and I felt a little silly afterwards, but am grateful for the resource and the way it is helping me read…
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