Review of かがくのとも (Children’s Science Companion) and an Introduction to Fukuinkan’s Monthly Book Series
かがくのとも (Children’s Science Companion) is a monthly picture book series for 5-6 year olds. I’ve often thought that children’s books about science, nature and daily life would be more appealing to adult language learners than fairytales and stories about happy little foxes baking cake, and the かがくのとも series is precisely what I was envisioning. They present information about animals, the human body, arts and crafts and much more in a way that’s genuinely fun to read, accessible to beginning readers and useful, both in terms of introducing and reinforcing vocabulary that will certainly show up in more advanced material and learning things you may not have known before.
The かがくのとも books are all about 28 pages long, with varying difficulties and lengths – from 300 to 1000 words long – and they’re heavy on the pictures. You probably all have seen one of these books already: “Everyone Poops” by Taro Gomi. Others in that vein include はなのあなのはなし (The Story Of Nostrils) and あたまのなか (Inside Your Head). There’s also books about specific animals like moles and bats, stories about daily life such as こんなおみせしってる? (Do You Know This Store?), ones that are more like regular picture books but with a nature-related angle and books that walk the reader through a particular craft or activity. For example, おめん つくってあそぼう (Let’s Make And Play With Masks) shows how to make an oni mask, which not only is good for practicing how to understand directions and learning vocabulary about creating things, but is inherently awesome.
If you’re just starting extensive reading and you have a decent grounding in basic grammar and vocabulary, I think the かがくのとも books would a fantastic place to start: their content is exceptionally well done, they’re very understandable and well-supported with pictures, and every single one I’ve read so far has been worth my time.
If you can get them used, they’re relatively cheap – generally around 250-800 yen – but even new they’re not horrible, closer to 900-1000 yen. I’ve written a lot about various sites from which you can order new or used books; just offhand bk1 looks like it has a lot of them new, and the Amazon marketplace has a lot of used ones, but the best I’ve found so far is Ehon Seikatsu which has a number of them for between 105 – 300 yen, and – bonus! – will ship overseas. One advantage these books have over most picture books is that they’re softcover, which drives the shipping cost down. Rather unusually, there is information about many of the newer ones (2001 on) in English, so if you find one you want, it may be possible to read more about it before you order it.
Although these are books, they come out monthly like magazines do, so it might be possible to special order them through Kinokuniya as if they were magazines. I haven’t tested that theory, and if it can be done I couldn’t say how much it might cost. If someone does contact Kinokuniya to ask about it, let me know the outcome!
This same publisher, Fukuinkan, publishes other monthly series of softcover children’s books; I haven’t read a book from each series, but I have read enough to feel comfortable recommending them anyway! The first two series are, like かがくのとも, related to science in some way, while the other series are just regular picture books.
- ちいさなかがくのとも (Little Children’s Science Companion): Even more basic stories about the natural world and daily life, targeted at 3-5 year olds and correspond to Level 1 books by my system. Emmie sent me one of these, and it’s one of the best Level 1 books I’ve read.
- たくさんのふしぎ (A World of Wonders): These are more stores in the vein of かがくのとも but they’re targeted towards elementary schoolers; I presume they correspond to level 3-4 books by my system, but I haven’t read any of them.
- こどものとも0.1.2. (Children’s Companion 0.1.2): These are picture books for babies between 10 months and 2 years; level 1 by my system.
- こどものとも 年少版 (Younger Children’s Companion): Picture books for children between 2-4 years old, probably level 1 by my system.
- こどものとも 中年向き (Children’s Companion 4-5 years): The next step up, for children between 4 and 5; probably level 1?
- こどものとも (Children’s Companion): The final “Children’s Companion” level, for children between 5 and 6; these are about level 2 by my system. I have a couple of these – again, courtesy of Emmie – and I really enjoyed them compared to most picture books I’ve read.
I wonder if Fukuinkan would consider releasing any of these as e-books? These are basically perfect for language learners, and it’s not like most five-year olds are running around with Kindles, so it wouldn’t cut into their target audience…
4 Responses to Review of かがくのとも (Children’s Science Companion) and an Introduction to Fukuinkan’s Monthly Book Series
- 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
- About Myself
- Adventure
- Books from my own collection
- Classification System
- Detailed Reviews of Graded Readers
- Detailed Reviews of Level 2 Books
- Detailed Reviews of Level 3 Books
- Detailed Reviews of Level 4 Books
- Detailed Reviews of Level 5 Books
- EhonNavi Books
- Extensive Reading Basics
- Extensive Reading Materials Online
- Extensive Reading Paper Summaries and Notes
- Extensive Reading Resources
- Illustrated Reference Books
- Interviews
- Japanese Language Learning Resources
- Mini Reviews of Level 1 Books
- Mini Reviews of Level 2 Books
- Mini Reviews of Level 3 Books
- Mini Reviews of Level 4 Books
- Mini Reviews of Level 5 Books
- Mini-Reviews of Level 6 Books
- Nikkei Bunko Library Books
- Non-Fiction
- Picture Books
- Pierce County Library Books
- Reading in a Foreign Language
- Seattle Library Books
- Short Stories
- Society and Culture
- Tacoma Library Books
- Tadoku Contest
- Weekly Updates
- 多読材料
Extensive Reading
- Extensive Reading group
- Goodreads Tadoku Group
- Overview of the "Start with Simple Stories" method
- Read More or Die
- Reading in a Foreign Language
- Tadoku Livejournal Community
- tadoku.org (in Japanese)
- Talk to the Clouds
- The Extensive Reading Foundation
- The Extensive Reading Pages
- 日本多読研究会 (Japanese Graded Readers Research Group)
Japanese Language Learning Resources
電気通信大学の多読クラスでは、Rookie Read-About-Science シリーズや、Magic Tree House のResearch Guide シリーズや、Magic School Busが人気で、毎年200人のうち5%くらいがはまります。
そうですか… マジック・ツリーハウスは日本語で翻訳されたけど、Research Guideシリーズも翻訳されたか分かりません。調べてみます(^^)
There is information about the fiction series here: http://kids.mediafactory.co.jp/magictreehouse/series.html , you may be able to find info about the Research Guides there as well. I would love to have the entire collection of these books. They are great in English (I’ve read most of them to my kids, who love them), and from the reading samples I’ve seen on that site, the Japanese is in that PERFECT 95-98% comprehensible range for me. Oh, if I was a rich man.
It occurs to me that there’s one at the Tacoma library… (I haven’t been back there for a while, I bet some of the books I couldn’t read before would be easier now) I might have to go give it a try!