Graded readers, by the numbers (characters/words, page count)

[character]

December 2019: Hi, I'm afraid I'm not buying graded readers anymore and would like to offer this topic to the Chinese-forums community as a whole or some motivated individual in it. If you have any graded readers info, post it in here and ask an admin to edit it in, or another member could take over the first post.  --character

 

Important Note: There are many more graded readers mentioned in the posts after this one.  Check out all the posts in this topic; don't stop with this first post.  --character

 

I started this list for my own use, then realized others might be interested as well.  I've added links to forum topics.  Assume all round numbers are estimates.

 

DeFrancis:

Beginning Chinese Reader (2 volumes), Traditional, 0 to 400 characters, 1012 pages Anki flashcard deck for v1 Grammar Q&A

The Herd Boy and the Weaving Maid, Simplified, 283 characters, 42 pages, handwritten, read after BCR ch. 30

The Heartless Husband, Simplified, 342 characters, 69 pages, handwritten, read after BCR ch. 36

The Bookworm, Simplified, 375 characters, 64 pages, handwritten, read after BCR ch. 42

The Poet Li Po, Simplified, 444 characters, 72 pages, handwritten, read after BCR ch. 48

The Student Lovers, Simplified, 443 characters, 60 pages, handwritten, read after BCR ch. 48

Intermediate Chinese Reader (2 volumes), Traditional, 400 to 800 characters, 1427 pages partial vocabulary list

The White-Haired Girl, Simplified, 526 characters, 37 pages, handwritten, read after ICR ch. 6

Red Detachment of Women, Simplified, 592 characters, 30 pages, handwritten, read after ICR ch. 12

Episodes from Dream of the Red Chamber, Simplified, 663 characters, 36 pages, handwritten, read after ICR ch. 18

Sun Yat-Sen, Simplified, 743 characters, 40 pages, handwritten, read after ICR ch. 25

Wu Song Kills a Tiger, Simplified, 841 characters, 33 pages, handwritten, read after ICR ch. 30

Advanced Chinese Reader, Traditional, 800 to 1200 characters, 713 pages

Forum topic Links to audio files for the Chinese Readers iTunes Reader vocabulary lists

 

Chinese Breeze:

I really want to find her..., MP3, Simplified, 300 characters, 57 pages

Two children seeking the Joy Bridge, MP3, Simplified, 300 characters, 58 pages

Left and Right: the conjoined brothers, MP3, Simplified, 300 characters, 62 pages

Wrong, wrong, wrong!, MP3, Simplified, 300 characters, 62 pages

Can I dance with you?, MP3, Simplified, 300 characters, 62 pages

Whom do you like more, MP3, Simplified, 300 characters, 62 pages

Green Phoenix, MP3, Simplified, 500 characters, 68 pages

After the Accident, MP3, Simplified, 500 characters, 73 pages

An Old Painting, MP3, Simplified, 500 characters, 73 pages

If I didn't have you, MP3, Simplified, 500 characters, 77 pages

Mother and son, MP3, Simplified, 500 characters, 78 pages

Our geese have gone, MP3, Simplified, 500 characters, 72 pages

Secrets of a computer company, MP3, Simplified, 500 characters, 76 pages

The Moon Sculpture Left Behind, MP3, Simplified, 750 characters, 76 pages

The Painted Skin, MP3, Simplified, 750 characters, 87 pages

The Third Eye, MP3, Simplified, 750 characters, 78 pages

Friends, MP3, Simplified, 750 characters, 88 pages

Two Red Shirts, audio online, Simplified, 1100 characters, 110 pages

Vick the Good Dog, audio online, Simplified, 1100 characters, 92 pages

The Competitor, audio online, Simplified, 1100 characters, 108 pages

Beauty and Grace, audio online, Simplified, 1100 characters, 98 pages

Forum topic

 

Yale:

The Lady in the Painting, CD-ROM, Traditional or Simplified, 300 characters, 139 pages

Traditional Chinese Tales, Traditional or Simplified, 600 characters, 170 pages

The Magic Ark, Simplified/Pinyin, 700 characters, 161 pages

Written Standard Chinese, Volume One: A Beginning Reading Text for Modern Chinese, Traditional/Simplified/Pinyin, 300 characters, 278 pages

Written Standard Chinese, Volume Two: A Beginning Reading Text for Modern Chinese, Traditional/Simplified/Pinyin, 600 characters, 268 pages

Written Standard Chinese, Volume Three: An Intermediate Reading Text for Modern Chinese, Traditional/Simplified/Pinyin, 1000 characters, 308 pages

Written Standard Chinese, Volume Four: An Intermediate Reading Text for Modern Chinese, Traditional/Simplified, 1300 characters, 390 pages

Read Chinese, Book One: A Beginning Text In The Chinese Character, Traditional/Simplified, primarily Yale romanization, 300 characters, 236 pages

Read Chinese, Book Two: A Beginning Text In The Chinese Character, Traditional/Simplified, primarily Yale romanization, 600 characters, 309 pages

Read Chinese, Book Three, Traditional, Yale romanization, 1000 characters

Readings in Chinese Literature Series:

Tales and Traditions, volume 1, Traditional and Simplified, 1500 words, 230 pages, * **

Tales and Traditions, volume 2, Traditional and Simplified, 1500 words, 270 pages, **

Tales and Traditions, volume 3, Traditional and Simplified, 3500 words, 264 pages

Tales and Traditions, volume 4, Traditional and Simplified, 3500 words, 260 pages

* Also has Simplified/Pinyin in the back

** Includes English abstracts

 

Sinolingua:

Graded Chinese Reader 500 Words, MP3, Simplified/Pinyin, 204 pages

Graded Chinese Reader 1500 Words, MP3, Simplified/Pinyin, 337 pages

Graded Chinese Reader 2000 Words, MP3, Simplified/Pinyin, 256 pages

Graded Chinese Reader 2500 Words, MP3, Simplified/Pinyin, 199 pages

(Readers 1-3 are older books probably replaced by the volumes above; be careful to avoid buying the same content twice)

Graded Chinese Reader 1, MP3, Simplified/Pinyin, 2000 words, 239 pages

Graded Chinese Reader 2, MP3, Simplified/Pinyin, 3000 words, 257 pages

Graded Chinese Reader 3, MP3, Simplified/Pinyin, 1000 words, 299 pages

Forum topic

Included in each book is an insert which can be used to cover the pinyin on the page so one can see only the characters.

 

Rainbow Bridge Graded Chinese Reader (Sinolingua), Simplified, MP3 downloadable, English translation

Starter: 150 words, 1000 characters, HSK 1

Bao Zheng and the Case of the Ox's Tongue, 35 pages
Cao Chong Weighed an Elephant, 35 pages
Cricket, The, 35 pages
Flog the Sheepskin, 35 pages
Houyi the Divine Archer, 37 pages
Identifying the Thief by Touching a Bell, 35 pages
Jingwei Tries to Fill Up the Sea, 36 pages
Legend of Chinese New Year's Eve, The, 35 pages
Legend of Lantern Festival, The, 35 pages
Legend of the Dragon Boat Festival, 35 pages
Monk Huaibing and the Iron Cows, 36 pages
Mr. Dongguo and the Wolf, 35 pages
Old Frontiersman Losing His Horse, 35 pages
River Snail Girl, 35 pages
Ten Brothers, 35 pages
Tian Ji and the Horse Racing, 35 pages
Ximen Bao, the Governor of Ye, 35 pages
Yexian-A Cinderella Story from China, 42 pages
Young Girl Versus the Giant Snake, A, 35 pages

 

Level 1: 300 words, 2500 characters, HSK1-2

Assassin and the King, The, 41 pages
Gonggong and the Heaven Pillar, 37 pages
Magical Lotus Lantern, 41 pages
Nuwa, the Goddess of Mankind, 39 pages
Tomb of Three Kings, 39 pages
Young Man Beneath the Osmanthus Tree, The, 39 pages

 

Level 2: 500 words, 5000 characters, HSK 2-3

Butterfly Lovers, 55 pages
Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, The, 42 pages
Four Ancient Beauties: Wang Zhaojun, 60 pages
Friendship Through Music, 53 pages
Hua Mulan, the Lady Warrior, 40 pages
Legend of the White Snake, 53 pages
Liu Yi the Messenger, 53 pages
Zheng He's Voyages to the Western Ocean, 57 pages
Zhongqing and Lanzhi, a Chinese Tragedy, 55 pages

 

Level 3: 750, 7500 characters, HSK 3

Courtesan Li Wa, The, 81 pages

Voluntary Hardships of King Goujian, 67 pages

 

Level 4: 1000 words, 10000 characters, HSK 3-4

Bad Luck Guys Sea Adventures, 79 pages

Romance of the West Chamber, 105 pages

Xuanzang's Pilgrimage, 87 pages

 

Level 5: 1500 words, 15000 characters, HSK 4

 

Level 6: 2500 words, 25000 characters, HSK 5

 

 

Vivian Ling:

A Reader in Post-Cultural Revolution Chinese Literature, Traditional, 1500+ characters, 530 pages

The Independent Reader, Traditional, 2000 characters, 399 pages

Brief discussion of her works

 

 

Mandarin Companion Graded Readers:

 

Breakthrough Level: 150 Charaters

In Search of Hua Ma, 150 characters

Just Friends ?  150 characters

The Misadventures of Zhou Haisheng, 150 characters, Simplified or Traditional

My Teacher is a Martian, 150 characters
Xiao Ming, Boy Sherlock, 150 characters
 

Level 1: 300 characters

Emma,  300 characters, Simplified or Traditional

The Secret Garden, Simplified, 300 characters, 61 pages Group read

The Monkey's Paw, Simplified, 300 characters, 53 pages

The Country of the Blind, Simplified, 300 characters, 58 pages

The Ransom of the Red Chief, 300 characters

The Sixty Year Dream, Simplified, 300 characters, 58 pages

The Prince and the Pauper, 300 characters, Simplified or Traditional

Sherlock Holmes and the Red-Headed League, Simplified, 300 characters, 60 pages

 

Level 2: 450 characters

Great Expectations Volume 1, Simplified, 450 characters, 70 pages

Great Expectations Volume 2, Simplified, 450 characters, 74 pages

Journey to the Center of the Earth, 450 characters, Simplified or Traditional

 

Grammar used in the readers

 

 

Terry T. Waltz:

Anna mei banfa, Simplified, 640 words, 108 pages

Susan you mafan!, Simplified, 207 characters, 104 pages

Josh duyiwuer, Simplified, 417 characters, 104 pages

 

 

Another list of readers with character counts

 

 

Books/Short Stories at the 1,000 - 1,500 character level

Read About China

Simplified, pinyin and English, 89-116 pages each, "HSK Intermediate"

Short Stories of Chinese Wisdom 小故事小智慧

Funny Stories 开心故事

China and America 中国与美国

Kungfu Stories 功夫故事

Famous Chinese Women 中国名女人

Modern Chinese Mini-Novels 现代中国小小说

Stories About Chinese Characters 汉字故事

[fabiothebest]

Thanks for posting a list of different graded chinese books series along with the number of characters and pages included in each book. I'm sure it can be useful for many people. I personally have "Wrong, wrong, wrong!" by Chinese Breeze but I didn't read it yet Maybe because I can't recognize many characters for now. Anyway I'm studying more seriously lately and I should definitely try to read it. After all, there aren't too many pages and characters repeat themselves. I bet the cd will be very useful as well.

[Demonic_Duck]

Useful post. Might be helpful if you also list how they handle pinyin and English.

[character]

Updated; hope that helps.  People should feel free to add their own info to this topic on these and other readers. 

[Tianjin42]

Very useful thanks. Have a recommend. 

[elina]

Character, very well-done, so detailed!

 

I’ll add six more series with books' links:

Glimpses of Contemporary China:

Getting Around in China, Simplified/Pinyin (can be blocked by grid), 2500—5000 words, 71 pages

Delights of Chinese Cuisine, Simplified/Pinyin (can be blocked by grid), 2500—5000 words, 85 pages

School Days, Simplified/Pinyin (can be blocked by grid), 2500—5000 words, 61 pages

Home Sweet Home, Simplified/Pinyin (can be blocked by grid), 2500—5000 words, 74 pages

Shopping Adventures, Simplified/Pinyin (can be blocked by grid), 2500—5000 words, 64 pages

 

Reading China:

A Little Horse Crosses the River + MP3, Simplified/Pinyin, 500 words, 116 pages

Fallen` in Love with China + MP3, Simplified/Pinyin, 500 words, 124 pages

Marvellous Chinese +CD, Simplified/Pinyin, 1000 words, 110 pages

Bicycle Kingdom +CD, Simplified/Pinyin, 1000 words, 110 pages

What a Beautiful Jasmine Flower +CD, Simplified, 2000 words, 110 pages

Let’s Get Married on August 8th +CD, Simplified, 2000 words, 110 pages

Beijing Welcomes You + MP3, Simplified, 3500 words, 122 pages

Planting a Love Tree + MP3, Simplified, 3500 words, 120 pages

China's "Spring Festival Migration" + MP3, Simplified, 5000 words, 122 pages

Panda Diplomacy +MP3, Simplified, 5000 words, 126 pages

 

Chinese Reading for Practical Purposes: Step by Step series:

The days I lived in China +CD, Simplified/Pinyin (on another page), 500 words, 180 pages

When I was in China volume 2 +CD, Simplified/Pinyin (on another page), 500 words, 192 pages

From a Layman to a Professional, Simplified/Pinyin (on another page), 1000 words, 175 pages

From the Bottom to the Top +CD, Simplified/Pinyin (on another page), 1000 words, 141 pages

China’s Education is Different from that of Western Countries +CD, Simplified/Pinyin (on another page), 1000 words, 141 pages

Chinese People Like to Speak the Truth +CD, Simplified/Pinyin (on another page), 1000 words, 127 pages

I Married a Chinese Girl +CD, Simplified/Pinyin (on another page), 1000 words, 144 pages

Chinese People Like to Dance +CD, Simplified/Pinyin (on another page), 1000 words, 128 pages

I’m the Most Humorous Person in the World +CD, Simplified/Pinyin (on another page), 1000 words, 123 pages

Bargaining Is a Kind of Enjoyment +CD, Simplified/Pinyin (on another page), 1000 words, 120 pages

There are More and More Indebted Persons in China +CD, Simplified/Pinyin (on another page), 1000 words, 118 pages

Use Tomorrow's Money to Fulfil Today's Dream +CD, Simplified/Pinyin (on another page), 3000 words, 126 pages

 

Read Chinese Everyday:

Read Chinese Everyday Ⅰ (Including 1 MP3) , Simplified, 500 words, 179 pages

Read Chinese Everyday Ⅱ (Including 1 MP3) , Simplified, 1000 words, 197 pages

Read Chinese Everyday III (Including 1 MP3) , Simplified, 1500 words, 204 pages

Read Chinese Everyday IV (Including 1 MP3) , Simplified, 2500 words, 229 pages

 

Wit and Humor: An Easy Chinese Reading Series:

A Simple But Difficult Problem (with CD), Simplified/Pinyin, 1750 words, 130 pages

An Honorary Answer (with CD), Simplified/Pinyin, 1750 words, 130 pages

 

The Chinese Library Series - Chinese Graded Readers：

The Monkey King and Journey to the West + CD-ROM, Simplified/Pinyin, 600 words, 18 pages

The Monkey King and Havoc in Heaven + CD-ROM, Simplified/Pinyin, 600 words, 17 pages

The Monkey King and the White Bone Demon + CD-ROM, Simplified/Pinyin, 600 words, 17 pages

The Monkey King and the Iron Fan Princess + CD-ROM, Simplified/Pinyin, 600 words, 17 pages

The Monkey King and the Golden Bell Demon+ CD-ROM, Simplified/Pinyin, 600 words, 17 pages

[li3wei1]

Here's something I started, but never finished. I've attached it because it's a spreadsheet. Most of the column headings are self-explanatory. 'Refresh' refers to whether they assume you've learned everything in section 2 before moving on to section 3 (no refresh), or whether they start from scratch and gloss the same word if it appears again (refresh). For the lists of glossed and unglossed words, I pretty much used the first ten of the first section for glossed, and what appeared to me to be the most difficult vocabulary appearing in the first section for the unglossed. One thing I left out was treatment of traditional characters. All of these are in simplified.

graded readers.xls

[OneEye]

There's an outstanding series published by 正中書局 in Taiwan called Supplementary Chinese Readers (中國語文補充讀物):

 

中國寓言
中國的風俗習慣（一）
中國的風俗習慣（二）
中國民間故事（一）
中國民間故事（二）
中國歷史故事（一）
中國歷史故事（二）

 

They present famous stories, fables, folk tales, etc. that any Chinese speaker would be familiar with. There are 20 stories in each book, so you’re looking at 140 stories (though I believe there’s a small amount of overlap). They are designed to take you from knowing ~1000 characters to knowing around 3000. I believe they chose the 3000 characters based on their frequency in newspapers (~20 years ago, but it should still hold up), though the vocabulary taught tends to be more of the cultural/historical/literary variety than of the economics/politics/news variety. There is also a 當代中國散文選 and a 當代中國短篇小說選, obviously at the more difficult end of the series. The series uses Yale romanization, which is pretty easy to get used to, and bopomofo, which you should learn if you plan to spend any significant time in Taiwan.

 

I'd personally recommend waiting on The Independent Reader until you know a much higher number of characters. I probably knew 3000 or so, and maybe 10,000-12,000 words, before I felt comfortable using that book. It is fantastic for getting you accustomed to serious prose in Chinese.

[Geiko]

I bought a series of traditional Chinese readers called 中文讀本 (Forum topic). All of them include a CD-MP3.

 

1. Beginner Level:

1. 你愛我嗎？愛莉在台灣的故事。31 pages
2. 矮小的大人物－晏子。31 pages.
3. 中國笑話。31 pages.

2. Intermediate Level:

1. 西遊記。39 pages.

3. Advanced Level:

1. 小結。55 pages.
2. 成語故事。51 pages.

 

The books don't mention how many words/characters are used at each level, but leosmith (the one who started the topic about these series) made this guess: 

 

 

 

3 books at the beginner (300 to 500 character) level
1 book at the intermediate (500 to 1000 character) level
2 books at the advanced (1000 to 1500 character) level
Character levels are my best guess - I found no info on this, but I'm quite certain about the beginner level.

[character]

Thanks everyone; I hope this thread helps people find readers which meet their needs.

 

 

The series uses Yale romanization, which is pretty easy to get used to, and bopomofo, which you should learn if you plan to spend any significant time in Taiwan.

 

@OneEye, the series sounds interesting.  Is the bopomofo/romanization separate from the characters, or intermingled?

 

@elina, may I ask how much reading material the Reading China series has per book?  I have a couple of books which seem to be based on the series (example) which only have about ~20 pages of reading material each, with the rest of the pages exercises and the like.

[Geiko]

Oh, and there's also the Abridged Chinese Classic Series. They are from Sinolingua, and, just like in the Graded Chinese Readers, they include a template to hide pinyin above characters. All of them come with mp3

 

1. 家，巴金。2000 words, 150 pages.

2. 春，巴金。2000 words, 140 pages.

3. 秋，巴金。2000 words, 195 pages.

4. 围城，钱锺书。2000 words, 195 pages.

[OneEye]

@OneEye, the series sounds interesting.  Is the bopomofo/romanization separate from the characters, or intermingled?

 

Separate, in the vocabulary list after the main text. New words are marked with a number, and I think names are underlined. In the first few volumes, there are also pattern drills and such.

[elina]

 

@elina, may I ask how much reading material the Reading China series has per book?  I have a couple of books which seem to be based on the series (example) which only have about ~20 pages of reading material each, with the rest of the pages exercises and the like.

 

Regarding reading material, for example, in this book of Reading China: Bicycle Kingdom, every lesson has 2 pages, so 25 lessons have 50 pages totally. And every lesson has 2 other pages, such as language points, exercises, cultural tips, answer keys, etc.

 

So in one word, I think 中文天天读 series (10 books) have more content and books than the second one of 天天中文series (4 books), 中文天天读：

http://www.studychineseculture.com/search.asp?keyword=%D6%D0%CE%C4%CC%EC%CC%EC%B6%C1&thetype=bookname&submit1=SEARCH

 

天天中文：

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_adv_b/?search-alias=stripbooks&unfiltered=1&field-keywords=&field-author=MacMillan+Education&field-title=Tian+Tian+Zhong+Wen&field-isbn=&field-publisher=&node=&field-p_n_condition-type=&field-feature_browse-bin=&field-subject=&field-language=&field-dateop=During&field-datemod=&field-dateyear=&sort=relevanceexprank&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.x=33&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.y=15

[character]

Thanks elina, personally I found the ones I got more like textbooks than readers, which is why I didn't include them in my list.

 

---

 

Having said that, this is kind of an odd recommendation, but if learning Traditional, some of the gentlest graded readers might be the DeFrancis "character texts" for the DeFrancis textbooks.  The character texts have a huge amount of reading material, and the separate textbooks provide pinyin and some English translations of representative sentences.

 

Character Text for Beginning Chinese, Traditional, 0 to 494 characters, 519 pages, handwritten

Character Text for Intermediate Chinese, Traditional, 494 to 1190 characters, 434 pages, handwritten

Character Text for Advanced Chinese, Traditional, 1384 characters, 712 pages, handwritten

Audio in iTunes Direct links to audio files

[alanmd]

A few weeks ago I put a quick script online that analyses the vocabulary used by the Mandarin Companion series, with the intention of writing a review that I haven't got around to yet: http://hskhsk.pythonanywhere.com/mandcomp

 

In summary:

• Between 387 and 422 different words used in each of the five books. 
• 770 different words are used in the whole series of 5 books:
  • 203 of those words appear every one of the 5 books (about half of each book's vocab)
  • 68 words appear in 4 of the books
  • 72 words appear in 3 of the books
  • 114 words appear in 2 of the books
  • 313 words are unique to only 1 book, between 50 and 89 unique words per book

I'm not sure how useful my analysis is, but I thought that it was kind of interesting, and shows that the series has at least been designed to have a good balance of common 'core' words, and words unique to each book. Quite a few of the 'unique' words are of course names and places. If I had vocabulary lists for other graded readers, textbooks, etc. those could be compared too.

[character]

 

I'm not sure how useful my analysis is, but I thought that it was kind of interesting, and shows that the series is quite well designed with so many words being common across multiple books.

 

It is interesting, but (esp. at the 300-character level) I'm not sure it shows good design as much as common words are common.  When I think of design WRT graded readers, I think of the DeFrancis readers and spaced repetition of characters and words.  If you have access to the text of a reader, presumably you could figure out where characters and words are used in the text.  If they are used at fairly regular intervals or perhaps in a pattern of less and less frequency, I think that could be considered well-designed.

 

Have you considered analyzing the Chinese Breeze books available on Kindle?

 

Another analysis I think people might find interesting would be total number of characters or pages of actual reading material (cutting out pictures, vocab lists, etc, etc) to price, getting some rough value for money metric.

[character]

Abridged version of the Chinese trilogy "The Torrents: Family, Spring, Autumn" by Ba Jin. Three books, I assume in Simplified Chinese, each with an MP3, 2000 words.

Family 150 pages

Spring 142 pages

Autumn 196 pages

[character]

An article reviewing some graded readers:

7 Superb Chinese Readers for Improving Your Chinese

Just skimming the article I find some points of disagreement, and the Chinese Breeze books are available for much less at places other than Amazon, but I figured even imperfect reviews of graded readers can be helpful.

[kikosun]

wow this is a great resource, thanks everybody for compiling it! is there any particular series that people recommend that is better/more interesting than others? 

[character]

 

wow this is a great resource, thanks everybody for compiling it! is there any particular series that people recommend that is better/more interesting than others?

It sort of depends on how many characters/words you know, and if you want Traditional or Simplified characters.

 

For beginning readers:

I'm a big fan of DeFrancis.  If you combine all the reading material in the textbooks with the readers, it's the gentlest path to reading I've seen.

 

The Chinese Breeze books at ~$6 each with MP3 in some online stores seem to provide good value for the money.

 

The Mandarin Companion Graded Readers are nicely produced, and there are some online support materials.

 

The Lady in the Painting is a good first book, with grammar and vocabulary sections, and a CD.

 

For more advanced readers, the Graded Chinese Reader series is well-liked.