A Homestay in Japan: Nihon to No Deai

I've been teaching myself to read Japanese for quite a while, and have been frustrated with the paucity of intermediate learning materials. I have worked my way through the first volume of Jorden's classic "Beginning Japanese", and really need stuff to read to build my fluency. This book is pretty good for the self-taught, since it gradually introduces kanji and forces you to learn them. Most "odd phrases" can be deciphered from context. If you have a native speaker of Japanese who can help you with bits here and there, even better. I do wish this was the first of a series, because I'm nearing the end and wondering what to do next.