Okay, we've had threads with recommendations for Japanese children's books, stories, and manga for those of us who are learning Japanese. I've been asked by a Japanese learner of English (beginner to intermediate level) for recommendations for English books. What would you recommend in this case?

(I hope this thread is not too out of place here.)

I've been asked the same, recently.

In my case, she wants 4th-6th grade stuff, especially scifi, fantasy and adventure. She's trying to read books for younger kids, but they are SO boring.

So far, I recommended:

A Princess of Mars (John Carter of Mars series)
Found (The Missing series)
The Swiss Family Robinson
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Cinderella
Little Red Riding Hood
Aesop's Fables (many, many of them... And they're SHORT)
Hansel and Gretel
Rumpelstiltskin
The 3 Little Pigs
The Emperor's New Clothes
Anything else by Hans Christian Andersen

... She hasn't tried any yet, though, so I can't provide any feedback.

Found was a book I hadn't heard of, but I read the first chapter on Amazon and liked it enough to buy it. Heh. It was pretty good, but the ending was a bit lacking.

A search for '6th grade scifi' brought up a lot of stuff on the net, also.

Robert Cormier and Roald Dahl are two authors that write books for younger audiences, but have stories that are charming/interesting enough that an adult wouldn't mind reading them.

However, they're not too too easy. Dahl's work is probably appropriate for late elementary school students, early middle school. Cormier is probably appropriate for late middle school (or even first year high school). That's hard enough to prevent some challenges to English-as-a-foriegn-language learners.

For Cormier, I'd recommend The Chocolate War, or I am the Cheese (though I admit that the latter might be confusing for a non-native speaker).

All Dahl's stuff is great, but I love Matilda the best.

Tzadeck Wrote:However, they're not too too easy. Dahl's work is probably appropriate for late elementary school students, early middle school. That's hard enough to prevent some challenges to English-as-a-foriegn-language learners.

Dahl is translated into Japanese, so if the English learner in question is familiar with his work, it might be a good place to start. Yes, he does use made-up words as a form of word play, but I think that's evident in the translation so it wouldn't be a complete surprise.

I think short, short stories would be good, too. Encyclopedia Brown was a favorite of mine as a kid.

Picture books are always good, because of the repetition. I like Shel Silverstein's work--The Giving Tree, The Missing Piece, The Missing Piece Meets the Big O, and his poetry, of course. But poetry can be hard to deal with as a non-native speaker.

This series is good if they are Japanese, they are graded by level and have word definitions and stuff. Has Roald Dahl, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan...

wccrawford Wrote:The Swiss Family Robinson
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Cinderella
Little Red Riding Hood
Aesop's Fables (many, many of them... And they're SHORT)
Hansel and Gretel
Rumpelstiltskin
The 3 Little Pigs
The Emperor's New Clothes
Anything else by Hans Christian Andersen

You have to consider their age, but I've found that native English speaker classic children s stories are not a good source because the topics covered and words used are generally useless. Its frustrating to read something and learn words that you dont ever see again. Also, IMO the stories are awful and not worth forcing upon anybody.

if you wanted to teach culture through these stories, I think it would be fun to read a very short modern adaptation and then "the stinky cheese man and other fairly stupid tales." that could be fun.

for my retired friends, I recommend "Little house on the Prairie." Many know the story from T.V. and the English is fairly easy (although again many older unusable words) for a remarkably interesting story.

While I've never tried it, I think that Shell Silverstein's "Laficadio, the lion who shot back" might be good because it's a contemporary story with a plot that reaches a wide audience. Plus there are a lot of pictures.

As a kid I remember Bruce Coville being one of my favorite authors, his "My Teacher" series and "Rod Albright" series I remember liking a lot, in like 3rd-4th grade. Honestly dunno where they would rate by an adult reader. But I've always been a kid at heart, so that's never an issue for me.

I suppose Dr. Seuss stuff fits in this topic somewhere too.