Japanese Tadoku Books by Students
Smith College Tadoku Project
シャーロットミードさんはこの本を書いていました。二口女は日本の面白い妖怪ですね！この本にたくさん二口女の歴史があります。私は妖怪の歴史が好きです！
This book talks a lot about 二口女 as a very typical Japanese ghost. It presents her in a very cute and interesting way. I love the pictures in the book. They kind of connects 二口女 to the pop culture. ( like how she use hair to grab beverages haha). This idea is brilliant and I learn a lot about Japanese culture!
この話が大好きですが、終わりは早く来たんです。おばあさんは死にましたか？わかりません！読むがは楽しかったです。こんな子供の本を作りたいです。
I read this book with all of the furigana covered with a card, and only checked it for 箱 and 雀. Those kanjis were used so specifically, and followed with such clear illustrations, that I was able to make out their definitions without looking them up. There was also 洗濯のり, which I couldn’t understand, but I understood from the illustration and the furigana せんたくthat it was some material for laundry.
The story was very easy to follow, and there were a couple kanji from JPN 111 that I could recognize at this point. It’s pretty long, too, which means the story is a lot more developed and interesting. For that reason, I think it would be fun for students to tackle!
とても暖かい話で、私は感動した。おばあさんとおじいさんはとても優しくて親切な人たちだし。いい人だので、いいことがあるんだね。
I encountered a lot of grammar points and vocabularies that I just learnt when I read this story. Also the pictures are really cute and the art style is dreamy. This story could heal. I highly recommend this book.
この本はちょっとこわいです。おきくさんと言う女の人が死んでゆうれいになる話です。でもすごくおもしろかっ田です。日本語1年生にはちょっとむずかしいかもしれません。There quite a few expressions/verbs that we haven’t learned in 日本語１。But if you love ghost stories, this is a really good one. The pictures also explain the story pretty well, until at least halfway.
この本はとても楽しいですよ。おじいさんとおばあさんはやさしくて、げんきです。誰もおじいさんの笠を買いません、でも大丈夫です。お地蔵さまは食べ物を送ります。おじいさんは笠を、地蔵のあたまにかぶせました。お地蔵さまはとてもかわいいです。I found this book to be adorable not only because of how the gods repaid the old couple so much more than what they received but also because of the heart-warming interaction between the old man and his wife. When the old man came back with no money but also no hat (because he gave it all away to the little gods), his wife did not scold him but instead agreed that it was a good act.
I will recommend this book to first-year students because although the Kanji part is a little bit more difficult, there are furigana and illustrations to help them understand.
この本はとてもおもしろいです。日本の古い話です。おじいさんはやさしくて、雀が好きです。でも、おばあさんは雀が嫌いです。それから、雀の舌をきます。ちょと怖いです。
This is a interesting story. Grandfather is very nice but grandmother is very scary. She cut the tongue of the bird just because the bird eats her washing powder. The story is easy to read. I found many Tango and Kanji that we just learned. It really help me to review those Tango.
このストーリーはイソップ寓話のひとつ。とても良いです。太陽さんは優しいですが、かぜさんは親切じゃないです。でも、トーリーは簡単くで、すぐ面白いです。
I will definitely recommend this book, which is a well-known folktale, to the beginning learners of Japanese. It is quite helpful to review what we have learned since it covers a lot of phrases and new words we learned in the Genki textbook. The whole story is easy to read and readers can always figure out the meaning by simply looking at the illustration on each page. It also helps to review the grammar of the formation of adjective and verb conjugation.
おじいさんとおばあさんはおかねがありません。おじいさんはまちにかさをうりにいきます。でも、だれもかさをかいません。それから、おじいさんはじぞうのあたまに、かさおかぶせます。すぎのあさ、おじいさんとおばあさんはたべものおみつけます。
An old man and old woman are poor. The old man goes into the market to try and sell his umbrellas, but no one buys any. When he is walking home he sees the じぞう (Jizo statues) have snow on them so he puts the umbrellas on them and goes home. In the morning the old man and woman discover food outside their home. The じぞう must have left it as thanks.
I think this is a really interesting folk story within a graded reader. It gives good insight into Japanese culture. However, it is a rather difficult read for a first year first semester student. I would recommend this book if you are in your first year of Japanese and looking for a challenge. It would also be a good read for someone starting their second year of Japanese.
ああああ、その本がとても大好きでした！そのねずみ達はかわいくて、いい友達だから、私の心はあたたかくなりました！初めは「おばあさんとおじいさん」という人物をしょうかいしても、他の部分は一般的じゃなくて、つまらなくないと思います。絶対におすすめします！
This one is fairly simple and I recommend it for both 1st Years and 2nd Years. There are a few unfamiliar verbs and nouns, but you can either understand them from context or skip over them with no real detriment to understanding. Also, it just might be the cutest book in the 子どもとよむ日本の昔ばなし series.
この本は私のレベルのために難しいと思いました。話を三つ読んで、一つだけを読んだ時パンチラインを分かって、本当に笑いました。その話は「おにはそと、ふぐわうち」という４２のページから始まる話です。それは楽しかったから、をおすすめします！他の読んだ話は「おばけのたまご」と「かさは売れたが」です。「おばけ」はちょっと分かりにくかったですが、「かさ」の方がやさしかったと思います。でも、たくさん話があるから、他のも読んでみてください！
Comprehension of these short funny stories was pretty tough going for me. If other 2nd Years want a challenge, then I recommend this; but it’s probably better suited to 3rd Years. That being said, I only selected three of them this time around (there are many many short stories in this collection), so if you read any of the others, let me know what you think!