Bibliophiles unite!

I witnessed the most adorable scene today at Barnes and Nobles. Four young, beautiful lads (their ages probably ranging from 6-12) were waddling through the children's section, carrying an arm-load of books. They retreated to a small corner of the store, where I happened to be scoping out some YA titles (all in the name of research, of course *ahem*) and plopped themselves down on the multi-colored carpeted floor. The scrawniest of the bunch (who was i.m.o., the loveliest with golden-brown curls and hazel eyes) exclaimed, "Man! It's too bad I probly won't get to get all of these [books]! My mom would probly only let me buy two!" I just sat there and admired them (in a very non-creepy way) and decided I wanted to have babies right then and there.

This scene reminded of this other time when I went to the annual LA Times Book Festival at UCLA. I went with a few of my friends to see Mark Danielewski (author of the crazzzzy psychological thriller novel House of Leaves) speak at a panel. As we took our seats, we couldn't help but notice the group of young (probably high school-aged) teenage boys sitting right in front of us. Judging by merely outward appearances, they looked like the average trouble-making kids at my old high school who would much rather get high in the parking lot than sit through English class. But these boys were so uber-excited to hear Danielewski speak; They would just cheer and hoot at every wonderfully clever and wry thing the author would say, and I noticed that each kid was carrying his own copy of the novel as well as Danielewski's other, more obscure books. Something about this scene made me warm inside and re-affirmed my faith in books & young readers in a world flooded with videogames, television, and other technological debris.