it's very entertaining to listen to the CD while reading its colorful pictorial pages. These serial books containing Japanese story or folktales for children (basic level) could enhance our vocabularies and skill toward JLPT levels
The Jon-san saga never misses. My favorite is still from volume 2 when he goes through his artistic self-expression phase and cuts his own hair and clothing with kitchen scissors, and an old woman gives him spare change because she thinks he's going through difficult times (is she wrong)? This Jon-san story was relatively tame, although I did laugh when he wrote 「女の友達が欲しい」as his wish and hung it up outside his host family's house.
Make sure you're in a good place mentally, have loved ones nearby, and a large box of tissues at hand before reading 像のトンキー. If you thought ハチの話 from Vol. 1 was heartbreaking, this one will destroy you. Seriously wtf 上野動物園.
3.5★ for people reading at this level. I really should have read this much, much earlier, perhaps right after I finished Assimil (actually even before that). The stories are cute but a little too simple at this point for me. Easier than ふぁんた時間 stories. They come with audio, which is great for people who are self-studying.