Text: Riina and Sami Kaarla
Reading has a major impact on the development of thinking and self-expression, and therefore, direct impact on academic performance. If we are not able to concentrate, to dig deeper and to grasp broader themes and issues in texts, we will not be able to understand what we read on a deeper level. If reading isn’t learned in childhood, tools for processing written text are not available later in life either.
The world is changing faster all the time, and reading seems to interest people less and less. Fast-paced movies and visually stunning games have evolved into engaging virtual environments, and the internet is easily eating up the rest of our leisure time. It’s easy to get immersed in media. Instead, books are a slow medium that requires that the reader takes a break and reflects. Reading appears to get la bit lost in the hectic life, and the various reading campaigns seem like mere life support.
We have been working as authors and illustrators for childrens’ book for twenty years, and we have created illustrations to both Moomin books as well as books based on our own characters. We have also worked as teachers. Over the years, we’ve been able to observe children’s reading and interest in books at close quarters through our four sons. The trend is clear: book sales are falling year by year. Although childrens’ books are overall still the best-selling literature genre, the declining trend in sales has made us to consider whether we are able to continue our work as authors and illustrators.
As authors, we visit libraries regularly as speakers, and we are often asked how children could be encouraged to read again. In our opinion, the answer to this question must be sought from today’s children’s and young people’s world.
Our sons have been interested in Japanese manga and anime from an early age. We are delighted that they have introduced us to this fascinating world. Previously, we only knew of animated films by Studio Ghibli, which have gained international acclaim. When our eldest son Max began to develop his own programming tool for creating visual novels, we heard about them for the first time. What is a visual novel? The name doesn’t really tell you anything, and there isn’t even a Finnish equivalent.
Visual novel
Visual novel is a form of an interactive narrative game that progresses through text. Visual novels originated in Japan in the 1980s, initially as simple text-based illustrated games, designed for the first home computers. At that time, a visual novel story was, for example, about solving a murder mystery with several different solution possibilities. What distinguishes visual novels from other computer games is that gamified elements are incidental to the story. We were surprised that actually about 70% of all games that are sold in Japan are actually visual novels. Their popularity is growing rapidly also in the Western world.
When Max started making his own visual-novel engine, we got inspired and strarted to think whether visual novels could be an opportunity for our stories as well. Could it be a new form for children’s books, still basd on text. It could possibly make people read, being appealing also to children and young people who have grown up with applications and games. We also got inspired by the interactive elements that visual novel offers to a book.
Visual novel for children?
Visual novels are typically aimed at young people and adult audience. Almost in all of the visual novels we have seen, the illustration style is Asian – even in those few that are made in the Western countries. The stories in visual novels are typically aimed at local audience in Japan, and the stories situate in Japanese society. As illustrators, we would like to create a visual novel with our own Nordic illustration style. Further, the story should happen in a familiar and relatable environment for Finnish children.
Would it be possible to create a visual novel for children? Such visual novels seemed to be hard to find, which made us wonder whether there are any visual novels made for children in Japan? If there are, are they popular?
Visual novel lessons from Japan: from development idea to pARTir sub-project
Moomins are very popular in Japan. In autumn 2024, we gave an online presentation about our Moomin books to the Japanese audience in the Literary Salon series of the Finnish Institute in Japan. After the lecture, we discussed with a representative of the Finnish Institute about our concerns on the decline in childrens’ reading. We had an idea to make an electronic book for children in the form of a visual novel, since the visual novel was originally was born in Japan. During our discussions, we came together with the idea of exploring the potentials visual novel as a new form of childrens’ literature for a Western audience. We realised that as visual novels are a form of electronic literary, they could have the potential to support ecologically sustainable cultural export, and to provide new opportunities for international cooperation in the creative industries. These issues are at the heart of the pARTir project.
With the support of pARTir initiative, we will undertake a research trip to the Japanese gaming and visual novel world in the autumn 2025. While we will meet gaming industry professionals in Tokyo and learn about the visual-novel markets in Japan, we will also have the opportunity to meet Moomin book readers as well as literature professionals in Japan.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the publication of the first Moomin story. On our anniversary trip, we will be able to tell Japanese children and adults about our Moomin work through lectures and workshops. In adidtion, an exhibition of our Moomin pictures will stay and tour in Tokyo libraries after we leave. We will meet Moomin readers at Azabu Library and at Moomin Valley Park in Metsä Hanno. We are particularly looking forward to the game-industry networking event, and to meeting and discussing with visual-novel and literature professionals. We are sure that the traditional book will not disappear, but visual novel might be the new form of children’s book that can bring children back to reading and stories!
Sources and further reading
https://oppivaverkosto.fi/lukeminen-on-avain-oppimiseen-ja-parempiin-oppimistuloksiin/
https://lukukeskus.fi/5-faktaa-lasten-ja-nuorten-lukemisesta-2025/
https://www.michigandaily.com/arts/the-value-of-the-visual-novel-as-literature/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355121908_What_is_a_Visual_Novel
The project is part of the joint pARTir – Creating a Cultural Roadmap Towards Responsible International Mobility project by the Finnish Cultural and Academic Institutes and ten Finnish institutes around the world, made possible by the European Union’s NextGenerationEU program.
