It’s a Book. It’s an awesome book, entitled It’s a Book. In the theme of a three year old asking “Why is the sky blue?” followed by multiple subsequent questions, our characters (a mouse, a jackass, and a monkey) explore an absolutely hilarious dialog about this thing called a book and what features it has and doesn’t have. Created as a children’s picture book emphasizing the modern perception of media/text/stories, bibliophiles of all ages LOVE this little story.
Book Trailer
Think about it. Have you ever tried explaining “records” to a modern teen or tween? How about 8 tracks? It gets even more fun when you start talking about dot matrix printers, mimeographs, or through the way-back machine: the printing press. (I still insist that those mimeograph copies smelled “purple.” It’s the only description that fits.)
In Belly Acres, we love books. We love stories, and we’re information junkies. Bookshelves in our homes are for just that…books. There’s no room for knick-knacks.
As much as we love traditionally bound books, busy lives and traditional books aren’t always compatible. Audiobooks, ebooks, pdfs, web sites, forums, news feeds, emails, tweets, and Facebook messages are all coveted forms of the written word. They’re used as much, if not more than the shelves of paperbacks and hardbacks.
It sure is a lot easier to pull out a smart phone, download, and read a Kindle book than it is to think ahead, not only to BRING a book along, but to bring along the specific book you’re in the mood to read.
…and how many times do we turn to our laptops, netbooks, or smart phones to open a web browser and search for instantly accessible information? Before mobile technology, we had to wait and hope we remembered to research the information later through books, magazines, newspapers, or friends. …and printed material doesn’t have a “search” feature.
Demographically speaking, Belly Acres certainly has its share of bibliophiles, but we also embrace all formats. In truth, there’s an optimal format for each specific need.
If a long drive is in the works, an Audible book will be on the MP3 player.
Now, if I, personally, need to read a great story while lounging out near the pond, I’ll have a paperback in my hands. …but I’ll also have my iPhone in my pocket with a bookmark for dictionary.com and Google…just in case.
How about y’all? Do you have a preferred “book” medium? Is there any format you really don’t like? Do you have an equal number of books in each format, or does one format dominate?