Reading this was really interesting to me. These novels reminded me a little bit of fan-fiction. It is a way for amateur writers being able to write to an interested audience. What surprised me the most was the popularity of these novels among the young people of Japan. It's amazing that it is getting people to read in a way many people probably have never thought possible. It is also encouraging young people that want to express themselves through writing and receive feedback for their efforts. While some of the people in the article didn't like the idea of the popularity of these novels, I really don't see anything wrong with it. It gets people reading. At the end of the article, Kiki admits to not reading a lot but mentions that there was one book that she could really relate to--"Deep Love," a cellphone novel.
Finding this article interesting, I thought I would do a little research. I went to the Maho i-Land website to check it out. Unfortunately, it is all in Japanese and as much as I wish I could, I can't read it. So I Googled American cellphone novels and found textnovel.com, an American cellphone novel website. Pretty interesting stuff...
Seeing the popularity among young adults in Japan with these texting novels, I started thinking about reading on mobile devices in general. It made me wonder if we have students that are on cellphones all day anyways, could we get them reading by encouraging them to use their mobile devices to read? Not only can phones be used for these texting novels, they can also be used to read literature. Many smart phones now feature Kindle and Nook applications that are free to download. Classics in these forms are extremely cheap, and can be downloaded straight to these apps. This may be a way to encourage students to read in a way that they are becoming more used to as it is.
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