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I wonder if we could use a form of soft-capitalism to pull or push the printed book back to the forefront, ahead of the e-readers and movies and iPods and games and reality TV. I wonder if we wished upon a star or as we throw our coin in the fountain…if we could preserve the beauty, the pulpy-scented goodness, or the comforting sound of spines creaking open for the first of future favorite book.

Thank you mom, but you see…
…it’s books I wish to grow upon a tree.
No quarters nor papered riches for me,
Just sprout a hardcover story,
A printed forest grown organically,
Within the bark and moss-covered library!

I’m easy to please, a book or two or three. I love them like friends and, as such, react strongly to the thought of losing them. I found myself literally welling up with tears listening to my friend postulate on how the printed book will eventually disappear because of the electronic reading devices. I cringe at the thought of this. I have a Nook but it doesn’t stop me from buying real books. I use it more as a way to try out books… using the option to sample a chapter, then buying the book to add to my ever-growing, heavily worded book fortress. And here I am safe.

I grew up in a world too harsh for children and lost myself in books. When everything became too much, it was between the pages of many a book that I found refuge. I believe where life failed to story me, books stepped in heroically and filled in the many gaps. I cannot imagine life without a book to fall slowly upon my chest as I and my wrist fall fast asleep. Or at night when the terrifying sounds ricochet off the spined shields of Hans Christian Andersen, Roald Dahl and Madeleine L’Engle.