easy German reading books

[debinaustria]

Hi

I'm English living in Austria , ds aged 7 has just finished his 1st class in German speaking school here.This summer holiday I would like to keep his German reading up in the 9 weeks, so any advice on some books I could look out for on ebay or somewhere? Do they have similar schemes to Oxford Reading Tree etc?

tia

Deb

Hi there! Can't get a working link to the actual books but I do like the history books from Bücherbär für Erstleser (but then I am an historian!). Dd likes these, they're fairly easy to read but quite informative and nicely illustrated. Not too much and not too cluttered looking like a lot of these non-fiction books for dc can get.

Das alte Ägypten, Stephanie Turnbull 32 pages, age 6+, ISBN 978 3 401 08850 1 Arena Verlag

From the same publishers Im alten Rom, Weldon Owen, ISBN 3 401 08460 7

I can't link directly to the books but you can find them via search on www.arena-verlag.de/ if you type in the book title. We also have the one about volcanoes. There are a few.

Have a look at your local library for non-fiction easy readers. They will have plenty but they're mostly low quality literature, so I wouldn't bother buying them. You read them once and never want to read them a second time. Lots of pirate, knight and pony books. They're called things like Leselöwe, Kängeru, etc. Dd (6) also likes comics now - Donald Duck, Mickey Maus and you can get them at any bookstore.

Just had a look at the boys' bookshelves. One series is by Ravensburger "Leserabe"; they have "1. Lesestufe Leseanfaenger ab 1. Klasse" and up.
The other v common one here is Loewe's "Lesekoenig". They have a "Leseleiter" and the books are by ages rather than classes - not that it matters. Don't like their twee "Lesefrosch", "Lesespatz" descriptions either.
Overall prefer the Ravensburger Leserabe - and noticed that a couple of them have been chosen by ds2's teacher this year for class books. He's just finishing Y2.
Get all mine from Amazon, tbh they're around ?4-5 and with p&P eBay's not much cheaper.
Actually, have just looked again as both boys enjoyed a series where you get the story and then puzzles/questions. V good for their comprehension. Also by Loewe, called the "Logli Lesefoerderung" series. "Lustige Lese-Raetsel zum Textverstaendnis". Bought some of them for the hols too as they hear/speak v little German compared to term-time.
Hth

My Euro sign comes out as a ? Weird.

hiya fink! Yes I agree that the Leserabe ones are the best of the bunch IME.

What I can't stand are those Conni does this and that books and the Hexe Lili ones. But with boys, I think you two can safely avoid those.

I would second the Donald and mickey comic suggestion from SSSandy too. When ds was 7 he went straight onto Gänsehaut books by R. L. Stine (translated from Goosebumps)because he was into that sort of thing (vampires, gohsts or monsters) and other wise he would read comics. A lot of the Leserabe/Löwe books were too boring for him. He liked the Lustiges Taschenbuch from Donald duck/Mickey which are bigger than a comic so last longer.

SSSandy2, I've got dd onto those Conni ones after you mentioned it once, she likes the ones where Conni stands up to the boys or proves she can do something better than the nasty neighbour etc!

oh dear!
Maybe I can't stand them because I've had to read too many of them! I think Conni is always so bad-tempered and so I worry about her as a role model for dd!

That's good, introducing you to those books and then coming on here to slag them off. I really do need a break!

Here, I'll give you one to try: Der Kleine Vampire Angela Sommer-Bodenburg. I've had to read 16 of those to dd, she picked up alot of language skills from them too! Viel spass.

We'd avoided Conni till dd got one lately. Holding Conni at bay still.
Hexi bleeding Lili was the most popular library book in Y1 - Y3 for ds1's class so he kept taking them out too.
The boys also have stacks of Lustige Taschenbuecher and they do read them, their bathroom's full of them. Just that I don't think they help with their German at all cos they whizz through them.
Ds2 got a Magic Tree House book in German as s present but said it was annoying they'd changed the boy's name! We usually stick to English books in English, ditto German in German. Ds1 got loads of books from friends last b'day and I was surprised they were all English/US classics in German. Sherlock Holmes, Moby Dick

Thanks everyone for your help, I will have a look for them and also source out the local library.

So, are you German in the UK or English in Germany?

Deb

We're in Germany - dh is German.

Ooops, we have gone abit of topic I suppose, debinaustria was asking about easy reading.
I wonder if you asked the class teacher for a list? I did this with dd because we only had english books at home and when I stood in the bookshop here in Berlin I couldn't tell what sort of book I had in my hand (I wanted dd to read the more classic childrens stuff). He gave me a list but more for the 2nd year. I remember he said that in Germany although she isn't German, Astrid Lindgern books are THE childrens literature. I've got a couple but we didn't like them much. In the UK I would have known which books are great and which are old classic must-reads.

Astrid Lindgren is extremely popular, why didn't you like them? Which ones did you get?

Conni very well loved in this house as well, even though they don't appeal to me my dd's love Conni.

We tried some easy reader ones: Polly hilft der Grossmutter, Madita and a couple of Bullerbü ones. I thought they were OK really but the dc weren't into them at all. Infact the Polly one was lovely - I suppose I had already 'spoiled' my dc with vampire and monster books so the thrill factor was missing from sweet little polly!

Bullerbü and Madita - such an idyllic set-up, sigh... but maybe a tad old-fashioned for today's children, I don't know.

I'm already planning to dole out Conni books - holding my fire Dd is v susceptible atm to "Only girls who are old enough to sleep in their own bed/don't throw their toys can have/do xyz." She's had her eye on them for a bit now and tbh I'm pleased to have something German she's into to balance the English stuff she has. It's a bit one-sided with her.

We have every single one of the little Pixi Conni books, and will prob get some of the big ones in the summer when we're in Germany.

But what a spoilt brat Conni is - horseriding, swimming, Ballet - you name it, she does it. And of course she gets to do the main part in Ballet, does brilliantly at swimming - failure's not an option with our Conni.

I wonder if that is why dd has been in a really bad mood with everything since she read her first Conni...?

I've got loads of reading books for that age - my dd1 reads German at that level too.
There's the Conni books already mentioned, v. nice are the Geschichten vom Franz by Chritine Noestlinger - she's an Austrian author so that should be great for your ds, she's written so much and I used to love her books. The Franz stories are really good for this age group imo.

I also really like Peter Haertling's 'Sophie macht Geschichten' - easy and very funny short stories, this is dd1's favourite book.

Dd1 also really likes Astrid Lindgren but finds them a little bit too hard in German still. She's devoured every English I can get my hands on though.

every English one even

can't write today

DebinAustria - 9 weeks holiday
9 weeks

I know, I saw that too fink and I bet they have nice long winter holidays too to go skiing and things.

I have read those Conni books (ALL of them) so many times to dd. I had Conni coming out my ears at times. The times I've asked what she'd like for a bedtime story (and we have a whole wall full of books), and she'd say "oh Conni spielt Fussball" for the 10 thousandth time. I'd have to clench my teeth and hold back a groan.

Those small ones aren't too bad but when you get onto the Conni CHAPTER books OMG- Conni geht auf Klassenfahrt, Conni fährt ans Meer, Conni und der Liebesbrief... I put my foot down and said she reads those to herself.

There are also lots of Indianer books as easy readers debinaustria. Maybe your ds would like those?

Thanks so much everyone

Re holidays - we do get 2 weeks at Christmas and then another week in February to enjoy the skiing