Story Information for 心の絵本
At the moment, Kokoro no Ehon is my favorite site for basic Japanese reading material. It’s a collection of original kids’ stories, most between 150 and 350 words, which makes them the equivalent of fairly basic picture books. Considering that you might pay between $5 – $20 for a real picture book with just as many words and pictures, this is a great find! There are other story collections online, but this one distinguishes itself by the pictures (which are helpful for learners, not just for decoration) and by the fact that these are all new stories, so you’re spared from yet another version of 桃太郎. If you’re new to extensive reading, even if you’re not new to studying Japanese, try some of these stories!
You can see the list of stories by clicking タイトル一覧 or directly through this link. The stories are color-coded by theme, and the themes are not all that important so I’ll leave figuring out what they are as an activity for the reader. There’s an English version of each story, but pretend it’s not there. (All of the titles are the official English ones, though.)
The stories are sorted by the number of estimated words, so to find them search for
the title. There are 24 stories listed here, for a total of 270 pages and 5,464 words.
ポストマン
The Postman
11 pages, 25 words (est.) Level 1
おやすみ やまねくん
Good Night, Little Yamane
12 pages, 40 words (est.) Level 1
まてまて マロン
Wait For Me, Maron
12 pages, 60 words (est.) Level 1
うっき うっき O モンキー
The Eeky Eeky Monkeys
11 pages, 100 words (est.) Level 1
なぞなぞあそび
Riddles
12 pages, 100 words (est.) Level 1
だったらいいな
I Wish
12 pages, 144 words (est.), Level 2
6ちょうめのわんたくん
Wanta lives on the 6th street
11 pages, 165 words (est.) Level 2
らっこのろっこちゃん
Rokko the Sea Otter
11 pages, 165 words (est.) Level 2
まめとすみとわら
Pea, Charcoal and Straw
11 pages, 170 words (est.), Level 2
あらいぐまのクーちゃん
Ku-chan the Racoon
12 pages, 180 words (est.) Level 2
あやのいぬ
Aya’s Dog
11 pages, 215 words (est.) Level 2
ほしずなのうた
The Song of Starry Sand
11 pages, 220 words (est.) Level 2
わんたくんとカラス
Wanta and the Crow
11 pages, 225 words (est.) Level 2
あかどん あおどん きいどん
Akadon, Aodon and Kidon
11 pages, 235 words (est.) Level 2
すーちゃんのなつやすみ
Sue’s Summer Vacation
11 pages, 275 words (est.) Level 2
そばだんご
Buckwheat Dumplings
11 pages, 275 words (est.) Level 2
ねぼすけ クンちゃん
Sleepy Kun
11 pages, 275 words (est.) Level 2
やさしい トントン
The Gentle Tonton
11 pages, 275 words (est.) Level 2
るーぱくんのおべんとう
Roupa’s Lunch
12 pages, 300 words (est.) Level 2
つばめのおんがえし
The Swallow and the Old Man
11 pages, 325 words (est.) Level 2
おつきさまがみてた
The Moon Was Watching
11 pages, 325 words (est.) Level 2
ふたりのなまけもの
The Two Lazy Men
11 pages, 385 words (est.) Level 2
ぼく とびたくないんだ
I Don’t Want To Fly
11 pages, 385 words (est.) Level 2
みかづきいけのカッパ
Kappa in Mikazuki-ike
11 pages, 500 words (est.) Level 2
3 Responses to Story Information for 心の絵本
- Extensive reading is known as 多読, or tadoku in Japanese. To try it, start with very easy books (ones with no more than two or three unknown words per page), and follow these principles:
1. Don’t look up words in the dictionary while reading.
2. Skip over parts you don’t understand.
3. If you aren’t enjoying one book, toss it aside and get another.
Find something to read!
Hundreds of free books and stories online
Local bookstores and libraries
Buying new and used books online
For more information, read "What Is Extensive Reading?" and "Classification System."
To learn more about Kunihide Sakai, who developed the three principles of tadoku and has worked to popularize it in Japan for years, read this interview with him.
Finally, for more than you ever wanted to know about why I believe extensive reading is worth your time, read my tadoku manifesto. Currently reading:
Superfluous Stats
Books read: 303
Word count (since starting the blog): 380,500Categories
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Extensive Reading
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Japanese Language Learning Resources
Yet another great find. Thanks for sharing!
I love this site too. I been reading through all the books the past few days. There are a few familiar ones, but many surprises too. I also like the fact the the stories are are actual text and not pictures of text which makes it easy to read as opposed to http://www.e-hon.jp/ehon_jp/index1.htm which has a lot of stories where the text is in the images.
Koyami, thank Sloppie, she found the site (http://enchanting.cside.com/service/freecomic.html) I got this one from. There are a couple of other sites worth looking at on there, but they’re a little heavy on the music and things like that… I’ll go through them a little more by and by and maybe add a couple to the main links page.
kanjiguy, yeah, this site instantly replaced that one in my heart. E-hon isn’t so bad if you go with the large text ones, but for the rest, it was such a shame to me — just the very thing I wanted, basic text AND pictures, and you could hardly read the things! What a waste, I wonder if they’d consider redoing the graphics…