[2024 Japan Booksellers' Award] I tried my best to explain to my 6th-grade daughter how much hope Mikito Chinen's 'After-School Mystery Club' nomination brings to children's reading

"After-School Mystery Club 1: The Goldfish Swimming Pool Case" (Written by Mikito Chinen / Illustrated by Grin. / Rights Sha / 1,100 yen excluding tax), congratulations on your 2024 Japan Booksellers' Award nomination!

There are so many points to be happy about that I spent plenty of time talking about this joy with my 6th-grade daughter.

(Author names will be written without honorifics)

(1) Just how amazing it is for a children's book to be nominated on the same playing field as general books!

Mom (me): "Listen to this! I heard that Mikito Chinen's 'After-School Mystery Club 1: The Goldfish Swimming Pool Case' was nominated for this year's Japan Booksellers' Award. It's the first children's book ever. Isn't that amazing!?"
6th-grade daughter: "Oh, we have ' After-School Mystery Club 1: The Goldfish Swimming Pool Case' at home. I read it the other day because you recommended it, Mom, and it was interesting. I want to spend every day in that 'secret base' too... Is being nominated such a big deal?"

Mom: "Yeah. First of all, Mikito Chinen's works have been nominated for the Japan Booksellers' Award four times in the past, so I think you can tell he's a very popular author just from that, but the significance of this nomination for 'After-School Mystery Club 1: The Goldfish Swimming Pool Case' is completely different."
6th-grade daughter: "Significance?"

Mom: "That this is a children's book. It goes without saying, but children's books are targeted at children up to middle school at the oldest, and that includes picture books, right? If you simply consider that half of what are called children's books are picture books, folktales, biographies, or books for science or educational purposes, don't you think it's hard for them to even get on the same playing field as general novels for adults?"

6th-grade daughter: "I think I understand that. I often think about it when I go to bookstores, but the 'Nominated for X Award' or 'Winner of X Award' corners are almost all general novels for adults, right?"

Mom: "You noticed a good point. Of course, there are many children's books that adults find interesting, but if you were asked to pick one outstanding children's book from a fair perspective while comparing it with general novels, I think it would be difficult for adults."

6th-grade daughter: "So that's why there hasn't been a children's book nomination until now. Or rather, can I ask again what kind of award the Japan Booksellers' Award is?"

Mom: "The Japan Booksellers' Award is a literary award established in 2004, and this is its 21st year. It's an award where bookstore staff from all over the country, who handle and read countless books every day, vote for books they 'found interesting to read' and 'want to sell in their own stores'. By the way, the winner will be announced in April. Connecting to what I said earlier, bookstore staff are obviously adults, so it's amazing in itself that they would strongly feel about a single children's book, compared to adult books, that 'This is wonderful! I definitely want to sell this.' If you think of the award as a race, there's a handicap to begin with."

6th-grade daughter: "Then does that mean 'After-School Mystery Club 1: The Goldfish Swimming Pool Case' has a charm that previous children's books didn't have?"
Mom: "I can't say for sure that other children's books don't have it, but this book has several unique features... for example"

(2) The luxury of a popular author writing a serious mystery for children

(*The book title is 'After-School Mystery Club', but since I usually say 'mystery' in my daily life, I will write it that way in the article. There is no right or wrong, and I think you can use whichever you like)

6th-grade daughter: "Mom, you're more enthusiastic than usual..."
Mom: "How could I not be enthusiastic, no, I can't help but be. Because children's reading is..."

6th-grade daughter: "I'll ask about that later, so first tell me about the charm of 'After-School Mystery Club'."

Mom: "First of all, the author is Mikito Chinen, who has written full-scale mysteries for adults until now. For example, Agatha Christie's detective Poirot stories and Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series have been published in many children's book formats, but those are novels that the author wrote for adults, which have been adapted into books to make them easier for modern Japanese children to read, right? Like adding illustrations and explanations, or adding furigana. That is, of course, a good thing for children's reading, but"

6th-grade daughter: "It's true, I tried reading the Poirot and Holmes books we have, but in the end, the content is for adults, and it's not a modern story, so I feel like I struggled and it took a long time to sink in..."

Mom: "I think it depends on the person, but well, that's an honest impression. No matter how much of a historical masterpiece it is for adults, for children, 'whether it feels interesting right now' is probably what's important. I do want you to read them someday, though."

6th-grade daughter: "Also, actually, I'm not very good with stories set in foreign countries..."

Mom: "There are kids like that, too. Foreign names don't click, or it's hard to imagine the historical background or the streets. That's why, watching your reactions, I've recommended several books written by Japanese authors because I thought they would be easier to read, but when choosing from children's books, they were too childish, or when choosing from adult books, the text was dense and the hurdle was high... so choosing the 'perfect' book was difficult. Especially when you were in 3rd or 4th grade, I think I struggled..."

6th-grade daughter: "I feel like I enjoyed reading them at the time, though."
Mom: "But I wanted you to read 'full-scale works' while you were still a child. While you have plenty of time and your sensibilities are fresh."

6th-grade daughter: "...I'm gradually starting to understand what you want to say, but in other words, as far as you know, I've never really seen a book where a mystery author for adults wrote a serious mystery for children before, and..."
Mom: "Yes, that's right. I've been waiting for this."

6th-grade daughter: "What about the Edogawa Rampo Boy Detectives series I borrowed from the library before?"
Mom: "That was certainly written by Edogawa Rampo for children, and it's very interesting, but the genre is a little different from full-scale, and the era is also different, so it's hard to use as a comparison. To sum up, this ' After-School Mystery Club 1: The Goldfish Swimming Pool Case' is, above all, amazing because a popular author who is currently active, and one who writes full-scale mysteries at that, wrote a mystery for children using the same methods as for adults. It's a very luxurious book that you wouldn't think existed, but does!"

(3) The same methods as adult mysteries... wait, what even is 'full-scale'?

6th-grade daughter: "So you wrote it using the same methods as the ones for adults, right?"
Mom: "Yes, it says so right on the obi strip. The author's own words say, 'I wrote this using the exact same methods as an adult mystery novel.'"

6th-grade daughter: "I like solving mysteries too, so I can understand why you're excited, but could you explain again what it actually means to use 'the exact same methods as an adult mystery novel'?

Mom: "I'm glad you asked. There's a genre in mystery called 'honkaku' or 'orthodox' mystery. The easiest way to explain it is 'whodunit,' but it also includes 'how the crime was committed'—in other words, solving the tricks and figuring out the motives. Basically, anything where 'solving the mystery' is the main focus is called 'honkaku' in the mystery world."
6th-grade daughter: "That's the kind you like best, right?"

Mom: "When writing an orthodox mystery—well, I've never written one myself, but the one thing that is absolutely essential is 'to always provide the reader with the information and clues necessary to solve the mystery'. It's what people often call being 'fair.'"

6th-grade daughter: "I get that. For example, when a detective solves a mystery, we must have read the information the detective used as a clue at some point. Even if it was subtle. So that means some people can deduce the truth by the time the solution chapter begins, right?"
Mom: "As a definition and a rule, yes. But I almost never figure it out."
6th-grade daughter: "You don't!? Even as someone who reads them all the time?"

Mom: "Usually, I really don't know, and I don't even try to solve it. Because it's fun to be fooled. Within the book, of course. But when you re-read it later, you think, 'So this was foreshadowing! It really was written there'."

6th-grade daughter: "I felt that way when I read 'After-School Mystery Club' too. In the second half, Tenma, the detective character, said, 'I challenge the reader. All the clues to reveal the truth have been presented'. And I was like, 'Wait, I have no idea...'"
Mom: "Exactly, that's an orthodox mystery."

6th-grade daughter: "And when I finished it, I thought, 'Oh, it really was written there. Was this foreshadowing? That's amazing.'"
Mom: "That is the pleasure of being fooled and the fun of thinking. Of course, there are people who try to solve it seriously, and I'm sure some children who read this book were able to solve it. But you've read this type of book before, haven't you?"

6th-grade daughter: "Yeah, I've started reading adult mysteries in the last year or two, but looking back at when I was in 3rd or 4th grade, I feel like I enjoyed the massive amount of foreshadowing payoff when I read Harry Potter."

Mom: "Right, Harry Potter is a fantasy, but at the same time, it's an incredibly well-crafted mystery. When you read the third book, you're surprised to realize, 'Books 1 and 2 were basically just foreshadowing for this!' And the way everything comes together in the final Dumbledore story in book 7 is a goosebump-inducing masterclass in foreshadowing payoff..."
6th-grade daughter: "No, let's save that for later. Anyway, about 'After-School Mystery Club,' why do you want children to read 'orthodox' mysteries in the first place?"

(4) Because it's an 'orthodox' mystery full of foreshadowing, you read it repeatedly = you become a 'reader' who is immersed in the text

Mom: "That's because mysteries, especially orthodox ones, have a magical power that makes people fall into the reading swamp that is overflowing with potential."
6th-grade daughter: "Overflowing with..."

Mom: "A lot of people like quizzes and puzzles, right? It feels good to solve a mystery. People who like orthodox mysteries have a sense of enjoying puzzles through text, and when you find out the truth of a dense, foreshadowing-filled story, there's an intellectual pleasure in thinking, 'So that's what it was!'"
6th-grade daughter: "Yeah, yeah."

Mom: "Well, even if it's not a super hardcore orthodox mystery, stories with mysteries make you curious about what happens next, right? You want to know, so you turn the page. Mystery solving has that driving force, and the better a mystery is, the more you'll re-read it later. Like, 'I can't believe this casual sentence had this meaning...'"
6th-grade daughter: "I do re-read them."

Mom: "When you do that, you get more and more used to reading. What's necessary to become a book lover and get used to reading is, obviously, 'getting used to reading text.' Even if you like picture books when you're little, if you don't move on to the concrete act of reading text, it's hard to start reading novels. You can go about your daily life without reading books, so unless you have an experience where you're moved or it sinks into your body somewhere, it's hard to open the door to being a 'book lover.'"

6th-grade daughter: "Hmm, that's true. I'm reading books with just text interestingly now, but... I wonder when I got used to it."
Mom: "For you, it was definitely Harry Potter in 4th grade. The sense of accomplishment when you finished the final volume was the gateway to becoming a book lover."
6th-grade daughter: "Come to think of it, I feel like I was able to read Harry Potter even though it's a foreign book. Why is that?"

Mom: "Harry Potter is a relatively modern book. It starts with Harry at 11, he ages one year per book, and it's basically about school life, so I think you felt it was relatable. However, the book that acts as a trigger is different for everyone."

6th-grade daughter: "I see, I feel like 'After-School Mystery Club 1: The Goldfish Swimming Pool Case' is likely to be a trigger book."

(5) If it can become a 'trigger book' for a book lover, it's the best kind of children's literature

Mom: "Right. There are so many cute illustrations that are exciting just to look at, and the interactions between Misuzu, Tenma, and Riku, the 'Mystery Trio,' are so fun that you can breeze through it, but when you finish reading, it's actually a full-fledged mystery with perfect foreshadowing. I think many children will go, 'Wait, what?' and re-read it. And once their eyes light up and they realize, 'So that's what happened,' that child has already dipped one foot into the reading swamp."
6th-grade daughter: "The reading swamp, huh? It's deep, isn't it?"

Mom: "I'll repeat this, but what's important is that you find reading the text interesting. It's not about looking at it, or watching it. It's about reading it. Reading uses your brain a lot, and things you realize are interesting by using your brain become your own nourishment. It's not just about ' After-School Mystery Club 1: The Goldfish Swimming Pool Case'; children's books have many illustrations and are easy to read, but by repeating the experience of eventually becoming immersed in a story written in text, before you know it..."
6th-grade daughter: "Before I know it?"

Mom: "You'll be able to read novels for adults and difficult texts without much trouble. Just like learning to ride a bike, you learn reading with your body. You naturally acquire reading comprehension and expressive skills, and I think there isn't a single downside to being able to read text properly. Plus, there are many people who grew up to be book lovers or aimed to become writers because they read mysteries in their childhood."

6th-grade daughter: "Well, that's the ideal, and I don't know if everyone ends up like that, but I do think the joy of reading books is something that doesn't really compare to anything else."

Mom: "That's true. And mysteries are highly recommended as an entry point to reading. It doesn't have to be a big incident; solving everyday mysteries is also a mystery, and wanting to know 'what happened' or 'the truth' is a human instinct I think."

6th-grade daughter: "I understand the 'entry point' part. I started with mystery-solving too, but lately, I've been borrowing all sorts of things from the library, like coming-of-age stories, romance, and fantasy."

Mom: "Yes, as a parent, I provided the spark, but what kind of books you choose from here on is up to you. People who love books always have a desire to recommend reading to children... or anyone who doesn't read much, but if you don't have the perfect book for them, just saying 'read this' can feel like pushing it on them... it's quite difficult. Once they experience it, no explanation is needed, though. Especially writers, publishers, and bookstore staff, I think they think about that very seriously every day."

6th-grade daughter: "Ah, so that's why you're happy about 'After-School Mystery Club 1: The Goldfish Swimming Pool Case' being nominated for the Booksellers' Award? It connects to that?"
Mom: "Exactly! I think it's also because the publisher's eye for detail and their planning were wonderful."

(6) How much can the 'passion of book-loving adults' increase the number of 'book-loving children'?

6th-grade daughter: "Planning?"
Mom: "This book was released by a publisher called Rights-sha. When I bought 'After-School Mystery Club,' I read a leaflet tucked inside called 'A Letter from Rights-sha,' and it seems like a new publisher founded in September 2016. In this day and age where they say books don't sell, to start a new publishing company—how amazing is that, and how much must they love books...that's why I'm trembling."

6th-grade daughter: "You're trembling?"
Mom: "You might not understand as a child, but business requires passion!"

6th-grade daughter: "Got it. So, you read the leaflet."
Mom: "Yes, 'After-School Mystery Club 1: The Goldfish Swimming Pool Case' is the first children's book published by Rights-sha. That book is nominated for the Booksellers' Award. The first time ever for a children's book. It's quite a feat, isn't it? The people at Rights-sha even wrote, 'When I got the call from the executive committee, I couldn't stop my chest, hands, and voice from trembling.' What an amazing story! I want them to make it into a drama."
6th-grade daughter: "That's definitely a bit heart-warming."

Mom: "Right? But the important thing is that any kind of creation is born from ideas and passion, even if there's no certainty it will be a hit at first. I'm sure they thought about many things and created this book with care, like what kind of story would be good, what the binding and illustrations should be, and what kind of paper and size would fit comfortably in an elementary schooler's hands."

6th-grade daughter: "It's true, I read without thinking about it, but the size and appearance of a book are important, aren't they?"
Mom: "Children's books, in particular, are like a comprehensive art form. Plus, collaborating with a mystery writer for adults to create a children's book—the focus is wonderful, and I can feel the power of pioneering something new."

6th-grade daughter: "I might not have thought about things like that before..."
Mom: "Well, it's enough for children to just read and enjoy it. Adults can't say the same. It's not just the writers and publishers; bookstore staff must be thinking seriously every day about how to get children to pick up more books. Because, to keep bookstores in business forever, the best way is to increase the number of children who love books, right?"

6th-grade daughter: "True. I love bookstores, but many of my friends say, 'I rarely go, and I hardly read books at all...'"
Mom: "That's why in this nomination, I felt the passion of the bookstore staff who wanted to say, 'I want to sell this book!' and 'I've been waiting for a book like this'. This nomination allowed me to feel the thoughts of many book-loving adults toward children and toward books."

6th-grade daughter: "I see. ...Wait, wasn't today's theme about how much 'hope' this brings?"
Mom: "Are you ready to wrap things up?"

(7) A story about how much hope the nomination of 'After-School Mystery Club 1: The Goldfish Swimming Pool Case' brings to children's reading

6th-grade daughter: "Okay, please summarize."
Mom: "In this world, there are many books that are actually interesting once children read them, but you never know if they'll pick them up and finish them"
6th-grade daughter: "Yeah."

Mom: "However, this book is packed with features that make children want to pick it up and read it. And it has the depth of a full-fledged mystery. There's a high chance they'll reread it and get used to deciphering text."
6th-grade daughter: "The 'full-fledged equals reread' rule, huh."

Mom: "And being nominated for the Booksellers' Award increases the buzz, so more people will pick it up. When books sell, it's easier to get a second or third volume—though they're already out. Furthermore, series are a child's reading ally. This is because for children who don't have a reading habit and often find 'choosing the next book' a hurdle, series are easier to pick up... that's why."

6th-grade daughter: "Yeah. Once you get used to the setting and characters, you can slip into the world of the book, and it lowers the chance of failing at book selection by thinking, 'I went to the trouble of reading it, but it was boring...'"

Mom: "Exactly. If a book with explosive power is born from the children's book world, the children's book world will thrive, and if the children's book world thrives, the entire publishing industry will thrive. It also sets a precedent that an adult author can write a serious mystery for children and succeed. Children who train their reading skills with mysteries will (probably) grow into non-genre book lovers and eventually start visiting bookstores as a very natural part of their daily lives. If the number of children who love books increases, we can inject energy into the future of bookstores."

6th-grade daughter: "It's a virtuous cycle. You seem happiest about the revitalization of the mystery world, though."
Mom: "Personally, yes. But regardless, I just want children to read a lot of books. It's a real waste not to read during childhood when you have the time. What's important isn't for children to become bookworms, but for them to have reading as a casual entertainment option, I think."

6th-grade daughter: "I understand the 'entertainment' part. Because sometimes when I'm reading, people say to me, 'It's just text, what's so interesting about it?' I can really get immersed in it, though... The internet, videos, and games are fun, but books are something else."

Mom: "Instead of dividing into kids who read and kids who don't, I hope that reading becomes a completely normal tool for entertainment and gathering information. Just like how every child has their favorite video creator."

6th-grade daughter: "Today, by talking about 'After-School Mystery Club 1: The Goldfish Swimming Pool Case' and the Booksellers' Award nomination, I thought I'd try thinking about it from a social studies or integrated studies perspective, like what kind of feelings the corporate people put into making the book, or from what perspective bookstore staff look at books."


Mom: "That's good. I hope that from now on, many more wonderful books like this, which act as a bridge between adult reading and children's reading, will be born."

Congratulations on your Booksellers' Award nomination!

May the number of children who love books increase... ↓↓ Please feel free to check this out as well