I just wanted to thank those who replied [one here and a few
privately] and offered suggestions.  I ended up ordering 4 books from
the こども (children's) section at
http://www.amazon.co.jp/ and received them Tuesday.  They are proving
to be a little more challenging than I suspected, but... that's that. 
BabelFish is truly horrible as a translation tool. :-)

Thanks again,
-Steven