初級日本語よみもの げんき多読ブックス [Box 1] GENKI Japanese Readers Box 1

Only for die-hard Genki fans... If there are any...?

Although I don't use the Genki textbooks, I though I'd give these graded readers a try.

On one hand, I can see that they'd be useful for those studying with the textbooks: you can use what you've learned right away by reading the story associated with the textbook chapter. On the other hand, all graded readers follow the same kind of route vocabulary- and grammar-wise, and this series doesn't have anything particularly special about it to make it a better choice over other graded readers available.

I didn't pay for my copy (thank goodness), and if you're interested in reading the series, I'd suggest trying to borrow copies (from a friend or library) rather than purchase them. I really don't feel like they're worth the money, especially for the lower levels which only contain a few sentences (which could easily have been included in the textbook chapter...).

I'd recommend the free Tadoku graded readers - after reading most of them I purchased some volumes from their other series, Tadoku - Japanese Graded Readers and Taishukan Japanese Readers. I appreciated all their free material, and knew the kind of quality to expect, so I didn't mind spending a bit of money on the physical books.