Bookstores Are Dying

"You've Got Mail" that cute movie with the much anticipated reunion of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. He the son of a man building super bookstores offering food and drink and she the owner of a small family owned bookstore. When her sales dropped dramatically there was no choice but to close the store. I can recall sitting in the darkened theater and hearing people sniffling when the store door closed for the last time. "It's just business," he told her. "Nothing personal, just business."

And now years later independent bookstores are a rare find and chain stores are dropping like flies. Case in point, Borders Bookstores. There was a large one near my home that when my daughter was young we would visit weekly. What fun it was in the Children's Department to sit on the floor, she in my lap, reading.
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What is the fascination with a Kindle? Ok, if you travel for work and are an avid reader an electronic reader is easier to carry. But to have e readers for kids? Are you kidding me? Visualize this it's bedtime, little Mary or Johnny climbs into bed and instead of picking up a book hands mom an e reader. 

The problem I have with this is kids wont have pictures to look at or pages to turn. Page turning was a way to travel along with the story whether it be down a rabbit hole or flying off on a balloon to a magic land. How does a parent cuddle with their child under a comforter holding a piece of plastic with a lit screen? Do parents really have to encourage this new fad? I just don't get it.