Japanese book on the same level as Harry Potter?

Hey guys, I’m almost done with reading ハリーポッターと賢者の石 (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone) and I like the difficulty level. I do not want to continue with the Harry Potter series in Japanese however, because it’s not “real” native content. I’d like to find a book with about the same difficulty that is originally written in Japanese and written about something in Japan. Any tips? Thanks.

I bought 5分後に意外な結末 and plan to read it but that too has translated content.

6 Likes

I haven’t read Harry Potter in Japanese, but perhaps 獣の奏者 would be a good difficulty for you. It’s targeted at young adults, so probably about the same demographic as Harry Potter. I found 獣の奏者 easy overall, with occasional spikes in difficulty.

3 Likes

I’d actually say that Harry Potter in Japanese is much harder even given the target audience. A lot of the translation is idiomatic and that adds a level of difficulty.

I’d recommend the Re:Zero or Overlord light novels instead.

2 Likes

Thank you I’m definitely going to try this one out :smile:

Oh do you think I can read light novels?

On the other hand after a bit of thinking I’ve realized that a book easier than Harry Potter would probably suit me fine, because I already know the Harry Potter story following the book wasn’t very difficult even if I didn’t understand 100%

1 Like

Maybe check out this comparison of previous Beginner and Intermediate Book Club picks for some inspiration:

2 Likes