At the moment, Kokoro no Ehon<\/a> 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 \u6843\u592a\u90ce. If you’re new to extensive reading, even if you’re not new to studying Japanese, try some of these stories!<\/p>\n

You can see the list of stories by clicking \u30bf\u30a4\u30c8\u30eb\u4e00\u89a7 or directly through this link<\/a>. 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.)<\/p>\n

The stories are sorted by the number of estimated words, so to find them search for
\nthe title. There are 24 stories listed here, for a total of 270 pages and 5,464 words.<\/p>\n

\u30dd\u30b9\u30c8\u30de\u30f3<\/strong>
\nThe Postman <\/em>
\n11 pages, 25 words (est.) Level 1<\/p>\n

\u304a\u3084\u3059\u307f\u3000\u3084\u307e\u306d\u304f\u3093<\/strong>
\nGood Night, Little Yamane <\/em>
\n12 pages, 40 words (est.) Level 1<\/p>\n

\u307e\u3066\u307e\u3066 \u30de\u30ed\u30f3<\/strong>
\nWait For Me, Maron<\/em>
\n12 pages, 60 words (est.) Level 1<\/p>\n

\u3046\u3063\u304d\u3000\u3046\u3063\u304d\u3000\uff2f\u3000\u30e2\u30f3\u30ad\u30fc<\/strong>
\nThe Eeky Eeky Monkeys<\/em>
\n11 pages, 100 words (est.) Level 1<\/p>\n

\u306a\u305e\u306a\u305e\u3042\u305d\u3073<\/strong>
\nRiddles<\/em>
\n12 pages, 100 words (est.) Level 1<\/p>\n

\u3060\u3063\u305f\u3089\u3044\u3044\u306a<\/strong>
\nI Wish<\/em>
\n12 pages, 144 words (est.), Level 2<\/p>\n

\uff16\u3061\u3087\u3046\u3081\u306e\u308f\u3093\u305f\u304f\u3093 <\/strong>
\nWanta lives on the 6th street<\/em>
\n11 pages, 165 words (est.) Level 2<\/p>\n

\u3089\u3063\u3053\u306e\u308d\u3063\u3053\u3061\u3083\u3093<\/strong>
\nRokko the Sea Otter<\/em>
\n11 pages, 165 words (est.) Level 2<\/p>\n

\u307e\u3081\u3068\u3059\u307f\u3068\u308f\u3089<\/strong>
\nPea, Charcoal and Straw<\/em>
\n11 pages, 170 words (est.), Level 2<\/p>\n

\u3042\u3089\u3044\u3050\u307e\u306e\u30af\u30fc\u3061\u3083\u3093<\/strong>
\nKu-chan the Racoon <\/em>
\n12 pages, 180 words (est.) Level 2<\/p>\n

\u3042\u3084\u306e\u3044\u306c<\/strong>
\nAya’s Dog <\/em>
\n11 pages, 215 words (est.) Level 2<\/p>\n

\u307b\u3057\u305a\u306a\u306e\u3046\u305f<\/strong>
\nThe Song of Starry Sand<\/em>
\n11 pages, 220 words (est.) Level 2<\/p>\n

\u308f\u3093\u305f\u304f\u3093\u3068\u30ab\u30e9\u30b9<\/strong>
\nWanta and the Crow<\/em>
\n11 pages, 225 words (est.) Level 2<\/p>\n

\u3042\u304b\u3069\u3093 \u3042\u304a\u3069\u3093 \u304d\u3044\u3069\u3093<\/strong>
\nAkadon, Aodon and Kidon<\/em>
\n11 pages, 235 words (est.) Level 2<\/p>\n

\u3059\u30fc\u3061\u3083\u3093\u306e\u306a\u3064\u3084\u3059\u307f<\/strong>
\nSue’s Summer Vacation <\/em>
\n11 pages, 275 words (est.) Level 2<\/p>\n

\u305d\u3070\u3060\u3093\u3054<\/strong>
\nBuckwheat Dumplings<\/em>
\n11 pages, 275 words (est.) Level 2<\/p>\n

\u306d\u307c\u3059\u3051 \u30af\u30f3\u3061\u3083\u3093<\/strong>
\nSleepy Kun<\/em>
\n11 pages, 275 words (est.) Level 2<\/p>\n

\u3084\u3055\u3057\u3044 \u30c8\u30f3\u30c8\u30f3<\/strong>
\nThe Gentle Tonton<\/em>
\n11 pages, 275 words (est.) Level 2<\/p>\n

\u308b\u30fc\u3071\u304f\u3093\u306e\u304a\u3079\u3093\u3068\u3046<\/strong>
\nRoupa’s Lunch <\/em>
\n12 pages, 300 words (est.) Level 2<\/p>\n

\u3064\u3070\u3081\u306e\u304a\u3093\u304c\u3048\u3057<\/strong>
\nThe Swallow and the Old Man<\/em>
\n11 pages, 325 words (est.) Level 2<\/p>\n

\u304a\u3064\u304d\u3055\u307e\u304c\u307f\u3066\u305f<\/strong>
\nThe Moon Was Watching <\/em>
\n11 pages, 325 words (est.) Level 2<\/p>\n

\u3075\u305f\u308a\u306e\u306a\u307e\u3051\u3082\u306e<\/strong>
\nThe Two Lazy Men <\/em>
\n11 pages, 385 words (est.) Level 2<\/p>\n

\u307c\u304f \u3068\u3073\u305f\u304f\u306a\u3044\u3093\u3060<\/strong>
\nI Don’t Want To Fly<\/em>
\n11 pages, 385 words (est.) Level 2<\/p>\n

\u307f\u304b\u3065\u304d\u3044\u3051\u306e\u30ab\u30c3\u30d1<\/strong>
\nKappa in Mikazuki-ike<\/em>
\n11 pages, 500 words (est.) Level 2<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the moment, Kokoro no Ehon<\/a> 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[44],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joechip.net\/extensivereading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joechip.net\/extensivereading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joechip.net\/extensivereading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joechip.net\/extensivereading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joechip.net\/extensivereading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/joechip.net\/extensivereading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":616,"href":"https:\/\/joechip.net\/extensivereading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605\/revisions\/616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joechip.net\/extensivereading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joechip.net\/extensivereading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joechip.net\/extensivereading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}