"Can it text?"

"Blog?

"Scroll?

"WI-FI?

"Tweet?

No…it's a book."

The above is an except from the back cover of It's a Book. The short story's dialogue takes place between a mouse, a monkey and a donkey. Rather than kiddos, however, this children's book is more pointedly, in my opinion, for adults, like me, bemoaning the technological degradation of the comforting, old-fashioned, non-electronic words on paper.

Rushing out of Borders, yesterday, (yes, I know that's part of the problem,) I couldn't resist picking up and purchasing this little BOOK by award-winning children's book author and illustrator, Lane Smith. While so much of book-loving society seems blase to the plight of publishing and authors' work in print, gutted for electronic mass dissemination, in his author's biography, Smith subtly and not so subtly–by capitalizing BOOK each time he sites his impressive resume of published credits–notes that not only is he an author of BOOKs but also an illustrator.

Tell me fans of electronic book media: Can you really enjoy illustration via a computer like you can on pages held in the palms of your hands? I think about our book, From Heartache to Hope, designed as an art documentary black-and-white photography coffee table book. (Photography by Rebekah Pope.) While photography can be appreciated online, can it sit on your coffee table to be admired repeatedly for years to come? What's next? Do away with art museums and/or project art on a screen instead?

Oh, yes. I do get it. My daughter's artwork is on a website for mass dissemination and marketing, and I think that's great. Yes, there is a place for the electronic dissemination of books. But at what cost? At what cost to the ART of print on paper?

Lane Smith: Thank you. Brilliant.

More on my dissention against the tide of electronic publishing here: "This Analog Girl Clings to Her Real Books."

I appreciate that although Smith, in his blog post on the creation of It's a Book, acknowledges that his art is somewhat also analog, he is necessarily keeping with the times in having a blog and a video, above. I wrote about the necessity of authors publicizing electronically via social media here.

More on Lane Smith's thoughts behind It's a Book, on his blog here. (His sentiments are not as vehement as mine.) More on his illustrations at his enchanting illustration blog. Looking at his illustration blog, I became wistful, longing again to read children's books. Which, of course, despite that I have a 16-year-old, I can still read them. Also, check out these two friends' blogs that include posts about children's books: Autism Reads and Toothwhale.

[Since I originally authored this, I heard a panel discussion on publishing where it was shared that already books are being designed to be interactive on e-reader devices, especially the I-Pad. Our jobs as authors. Just. Got. Harder. Dang.]