Can You Guess the Animal?

This Level 2 reader introduces a variety of beautiful animals through authentic photographs while helping learners build confidence with simple affirmative and negative Japanese sentence patterns.

Each animal is introduced using the repeated sentence pattern 「これは ～です。」 followed by 「これは ～じゃないです。」, allowing learners to naturally recognise the difference between positive and negative sentences through meaningful repetition. The colour-coded text highlights です in blue and じゃないです in red, making these important grammar patterns easy to notice and remember.

As learners progress through the book, they discover familiar animals including dogs, cats, pigs, ducks, monkeys, hippos, giraffes, lions, and finally a meerkat. Most animal names are written in Hiragana, while the final two animals, ライオン and ミーアキャット, introduce Katakana with Hiragana support, helping learners recognise how many foreign loanwords are written in Japanese.

The authentic photographs and animal footprints encourage learners to predict each animal before turning the page, creating an engaging and interactive reading experience while building confidence in reading Japanese.

This reader helps learners develop reading fluency through repetition, authentic Japanese language, beautiful animal photography, and carefully sequenced sentence patterns.

Language Features

Students will practise:

• Reading simple affirmative and negative sentences
• Using です and じゃないです
• Learning common animal vocabulary
• Recognising the difference between Hiragana and Katakana
• Predicting meaning using picture clues and animal footprints
• Developing reading confidence through repeated sentence patterns

Details: 

Japanese Reader Level: 2
Recommended for: Early Beginners
Language Focus: Simple affirmative and negative sentences using です and じゃないです
Vocabulary Theme: Animals
Cultural Theme: Japanese writing systems (Hiragana and Katakana) through animal names

Character Count: 193
Pages: 10
Product Type: A5 saddle-stitched booklet
ISBN: 978-0-6481178-4-1

Perfect For

• Learners progress from simple sentences to affirmative and negative sentence patterns
• Primary school Japanese programs
• Beginning secondary school students
• Home learning
• Japanese language classrooms
• Learning animal vocabulary through authentic photographs

 Teaching & Learning Resources

Every reader includes free access to our Resource Library.

Included with every reader:

•  Audio recordings narrated by Mariko Sensei
•  English translation
•  Quizlet vocabulary activities

Also available for schools and teachers:

•  Class Sets with Online Flipbooks

 A Note from Mariko Sensei

One of my earliest childhood memories is visiting Ueno Zoo in Tokyo with my father, mother, and older sister when I was about three years old.

I remember seeing an enormous pig. To my little three-year-old eyes, it looked absolutely gigantic! I was so frightened that I started crying, and my father picked me up and held me until I felt safe again. Even today, I still smile whenever I think about that special family memory.

As I grew older, I came to love visiting zoos and learning about animals from around the world. Watching them closely taught me to appreciate how unique and fascinating every animal is.

I created this reader to help learners enjoy discovering animals while building confidence with simple Japanese sentence patterns. Through repeated です and じゃないです sentences, learners naturally develop reading fluency while expanding their vocabulary.

I also wanted to introduce one of the unique features of Japanese writing. Most animal names in this reader are written in Hiragana, but the final two animals, ライオン and ミーアキャット, introduce Katakana with Hiragana support, helping learners recognise how many words borrowed from other languages are written in Japanese.

I hope this reader encourages you to enjoy both learning Japanese and discovering the wonderful world of animals.

Happy reading!

— Mariko Sensei

📖 Your Next Japanese Reader

Now that you’ve practised です and じゃないです, continue your Japanese reading journey with these readers:

• むし — Continue reading simple descriptive sentences while learning あります, counting, and insect vocabulary.
• からだは なにいろ？— Learn body parts and colours through repeated descriptive sentence patterns.
• ねこの ちび  — Read a heartwarming story while learning simple sentence patterns and expressions such as 「～が すきです。」.