Post #2: What is a Book?

When I was about 7 years old, I remember going to the library and looking in the children's section so long that I took off my shoes and sat down on the floor with a stack of books beside me. I left that section for just a moment to find a different book and, upon returning, found my shoes were gone and the books re-shelved. I had to walk up to the towering front desk and sheepishly snatch my shoes from the top of the counter. I returned to the books to try to recreate my stack, but failed to remember every title and cover and author.

I lost all of my stories that day.

Just about any other Midwestern, suburban kid might have a similar story of spending long summer days going to the library and enjoying the stories they find there. But as my own school library has recently gotten rid of a good portion of its books in exchange for more computers. It might be time to ask: What is a book?

At Mason High School, books were simply old information filling up space that could be replaced by the latest and greatest technology could offer. People claim to like physical books. But when I asked other students about the change, most had never checked out or even touched a single book our library had to offer. Now, you can check out a laptop and, with the internet and Easy Bib, research papers became a breeze when it came to information-fetching. Our writing style was another matter as my English teachers would say.

But back to that air conditioned library once upon a summer's day. I loved that I had a stack of books. But what I loved even more was that I had a countless number of new places and strange characters and mind-bending mysteries to explore.

A book is a story.

And stories have always been there. Books aren't even the most classic form they take. For hundreds of year, civilizations would pass down their stories through word of mouth. I myself can recall quite of few of the best stories have been shared around a campfire or under lantern light when my cousins and I were supposed to be sleeping. As Joe Meno says, "[T]he idea of a book is more important than the form it takes" (The Late American Novel).

We can't stop technology. So why not embrace it? As much as I love the feel of a book in my hands, I would rather fight for the action of reading to continue rather than the medium that reading takes. Any form of a book still sparks the imagination to create and fill in details of the story.

So whether the kids of the future ask "Tell me a story", "Read me a book", or "Google a new Story",  respond in a way that creates a new generation of readers. Or simply start with "Once upon a time..."