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(4.11/5)It immerses you in the atmosphere of childhood and carelessness.
Difficulty level in vocabulary and grammar n3-n2. I would not recommend it as a first book, as many moments are far from reality, so it can be difficult to understand - it is a strange plot, or you have a low level of language, so strange things happen. For a first book, I would recommend something more down-to-earth. But for a second or third book - great!
This book immerses you in the atmosphere of childhood and carelessness. Well written - this is one of the easiest books to read by the author. Someday I wanna read his other works.
A captivating blend of mystery, friendship and some sci-fi elements.
When Aoyama, a fourth-grade student, notices penguins mysteriously invading his peaceful Japanese town, he becomes determined to uncover the truth behind this strange occurrence. With the help of his classmates Uchida and Hamamoto, they join forces to investigate the mystery. Soon, they discover that strange events are taking place in the town, with a mysterious connection between the penguins and a enigmatic lady who works at the local dental clinic.
Don’t be fooled by the presence of penguins and its classification as a children’s book. It is a enjoyable story that explores themes like friendship, the discovery of love, and even incorporates elements of science fiction.
Regarding language learning, "Penguin Highway" is a good starter book due to its use of simple grammar and common vocabulary. The book's straightforward writing style makes it much easier to read and understand. While many people may start with "また、同じ夢を見ていた," I find that "Penguin Highway" is more enjoyable and easier to comprehend.
One difficulty I encountered while reading was the frequent use of different onomatopoeic words throughout the book, so be aware of them!
An charming, fairly easy read
A note: I listened to the audiobook version of this book.
I enjoyed this book quite a lot. The protagonist comes across very much as a precocious little kid, but in a way that is charming most of the time and makes for an entertaining viewpoint into this fairly chilled out story with its mysteries that the main character is earnestly determined to solve. I will agree with the other review that in the second half there is a lot of おっぱい talk - but it doesn’t get in the way too much. I listened to the audiobook of this which is relatively well produced and easy to listen to.
Bit of fantasy wrapped up in the language of a scientifically minded kid. I'm definitely not the intended audience which I suspect is probably 8-12 year old boys (given the frequent rumination on boobs and other aspects of the humor in this book). There's nothing too crazy in terms of vocabulary here and the grammar is probably 90% covered by N3 materials if I had to guess. The narrator rambles a bit though.
If you're reading this wanting your first full length novel and don't really enjoy kids books that much I'd suggest something else. For non-native speakers there are plenty of enjoyable books aimed at adults which have roughly the same difficulty. That said, it's cute and fun, especially the second half of the book where the story really picks up.
Type: Novel Furigana: No Hurdle: Scientific names, heavy on onomatopoeia, bullying scenes
One day penguins start to appear in Aoyama's town. Why do they appear in a quiet town in Japan? Where do they keep coming from? Let's find out!
Keep an eye open for the 角川つばさ文庫(Tsubasabunko) version of the book. It has furigana!
Why did I read this?
For the culture. For Japanese.
Pretty sure this was in the "SF" category, how I found it, but should not be in that category.
It's all 'experiments' of a boy about 5 years old just playing outside with his friends. Basically, the appeal is the viewpoint of a 5 year old boy. So, there are some slightly humorous things, and probably more that I missed. He is interesting is science.
The audiobook speech at 1x is very fast but the book is still very long. So if you slow it down to what feels 'normal' the book will be much longer still!
This is a fantastic book for language learning and immersion being fairly consistently approachable at the level rated but it is not very interesting. That is the tradeoff.