Reddit reviews The Secret Garden: Mandarin Companion Graded Readers: Level 1, Simplified Chinese Edition

Chances are, you were approaching books that were not suitable for Chinese learners or your level. Mountains of research has shown that the optimal comprehension level is when you can understand 95-100% of the words in the book. 90-98% comprehension is called Intensive Reading. Below 90% comprehension is called "Reading Pain"(you know what I mean).

The best methodology is not to have Chinese and English on opposite pages, but instead give you a book where you already know most of the words and introduce new vocabulary gradually and constantly recycle it throughout the book. We introduce those new words and provide pinyin pronunciations and definitions in a glossary at the end.

There is a dearth of suitable reading materials for Chinese learners out there so it's no suprise that you've experienced difficulty reading the books you've found. It's not easy to decide which characters you should use for specific levels and then write that story. A lot of Chinese publishers try to do it but very few are good at it. I suspect if you are even trying to read books in Chinese, you'll definitely be able to read this one. On Amazon, you can preview a sample so check it out and see if it is suitable for your level. Let me know!