Books Have Many Futures

There's a neat article on the NPR website today:

The premise of Lane Smith's new work for children, It’s a Book, is simple: Books are under siege.

On the first page a donkey asks a monkey, "What do you have there?" The monkey replies: "It’s a book."

"How do you scroll down?" the donkey asks. "Do you blog with it?"

Then he asks: "Where’s your mouse? ... Can you make characters fight? ... Can it text? ... Tweet? ... Wi-Fi? ... Can it do this? TOOT!"

No, the monkey repeatedly replies. "It’s a book."

Smith's book, in stores this month, may be an example of a dying breed. A book, published — and meant to be read — on paper.

What's noteworthy about this article is that it doesn't have the "we're all going to die" tone like most.