@Radish8
As you mentioned this thread in another post, I think I’ll write a bit about some resources that have been of use for making my own transition from Graded Readers to native material.
I’ve read the three graded readers series mentioned here (up to level 3 that is), so I’m confident anyone reading any of those could do this transition smoothly.
Find your level.
If you’re already into the Graded Readers series (which I think are the easiest way to get you into reading japanese) there are some suggestions for native content related to the Graded Reader material you are able to read.
- Tadoku Recommendation
- Liana’s Extensive Reading Journal
For children’s books there’s hiragana… and there’s hiragana madness.
Sample pages will save you from the madness. And shortly you will see that 1st grade aimed books can be found with some kanji too (albeit the 80 kanjis that kids are supposed to learn during that year). There are series like the 10分で読める that follow this grading system, going from 1st to 6th grade, with the kanji been more present in every step. I’ve found that even with the 1st grade book and their small amount of kanjis the text was fairly well parsed and it’s not madness at all in the hiragana department.
The WKstats website provides with the reference for the when you reach completion for the joyo kanjis in the different school grades following the WK system in case you’re wondering
I’ve started with the 10分で読める伝記. This are biographies, so if you want a break from all the demons and the japanese vegetals / fauna stories, this should be fine, plus you can learn tons of different vocab, since there’re lots of famous characters mentioned that setted a landmark in various fields.
As free resources I would recommend
EhonNavi and Pibo, you can find how to sign up instructions here and here as to make the most from the 立読み options they provide.
Well, that’s all I an think from the top of my head. But yeah, kids have lots of options in Japan, and so have we, japanese learners
I’ll post any other resource I think about later.