Everyone remembers their first great book that they ever read, flipping the pages excitedly, imagining the characters inside your head, feeling what they feel, and seeing what they see. Whether it was sci-fi, mystery, romance or comedy, a great book will always remain with you, even if it does change shape, like for instance, becoming an eBook.
You heard right, the new eBooks are flooding the stores and everyone wants one of their own electronic readers. I did some research, and a whopping 1 in 10 of you use eBooks already so you can read your favourite classics at your fingertips, instead of going to the bookshop to buy them. And the numbers are still climbing as eBooks grow more and more popular. I decided to get the inside opinion of the celebrities everyone’s reading about. Literally! We’ve talked to the critics and the authors on the topic, but today I will have an exclusive interview with the characters themselves.
A picture of a popular eBook
Eragon, dragon rider of 16 voiced his opinion on the rise of eBooks;
“I think this technology is awesome, you don’t have to actually read, all the books you buy come with audio voiceovers” he commented, “I mean, I couldn’t read until a year ago, so having someone read for you is just awesome.” Eragon went on to say that more people should be buying eBooks, for they are a great experience, especially to someone who has just come from the middle ages!
Voldermort, evil villain from the book Harry Potter, shared similar opinions. Beside the point that J.K Rowling (author of Harry Potter) gave him no nose in the series after his re-rising, he seemed quite positive to promote the electronic version of Harry Potter. “Well for a start, eBooks are easier to carry around, for instance, I would rather kill some mudbloods whilst carrying a single EBook than carry the whole seven books of Harry Potter around with me, and you should totally buy the series, because I’m in every book, though ignore the whole ‘I like to kill muggles’ thing, people just can’t seem to ignore that flaw. But anyway, I love reading the Harry Potter eBooks, they’re great! ”
The pros of the eBook were looming over the cons considerably already, and most of the characters were fine being made into electronic copies instead of paper. In my opinion, the eBooks have been an exuberant step-up in technology. Not only are most eBook novels around 30% cheaper than paper back, but there isn’t much an eBook can’t do that a paper back can .Except for being used as a paper aeroplane or to keep you warm by burning them of course. But funnily enough, people don’t quite fancy the idea of burning books that you just paid $20
Aslan from Chronicles of Narnia
So later on, I asked other characters about how eBooks would impact their life. Aslan, from the chronicle of Narnia, was rather neutral about the subject, just stating “Roar,” to each and every one of my questions. Mind you, he is a lion after all.
“Yeah, they’re cool I guess,” yawned sleeping beauty slowly when I asked her, “like, encouraging computer geeks to read more is good, you know. I don’t read though, because I’m kind of sleeping…” Unfortunately our interview had to be cut short, due to the fact that Sleeping Beauty fell asleep in the middle of our interview.
But Edward Cullen, from the Twilight saga, felt the complete opposite. “It’s just not right!” He said, “Books aren’t computers! They’re not meant to be read like this! What about the smell of a new book? Or the feel of the pages when you flip the book…gah!” Edward broke down into sobs, leaving Vampire Lestat with the last comment of the interview.
“Honestly,” said Lestat, “how did that sorry excuse for a vampire [Edward] get in here anyways? I doubt he even drinks blood!” I too, rolled my eyes at Edward’s outburst. You wouldn’t think that anyone would feel so strongly about an eBook, but I suppose that is a sparkling fairy princess for you. “I mean, he got it easy,” Lestat continued, “he got the emo chick while I got poisoned by an 8 year old vampire!”
Meanwhile, Voldemort and Eragon got into an argument whether you needed a wand to perform magic, and Voldemort was on the upper-hand by using the Cruciatus curse on Eragon. It ended by Edward yelling at them to keep it down, and then he pranced out of the room crying.
So in all, most of the fantasy characters felt quite positive towards the electronic readers, but I never got an answer out of Lestat. Unfortunately, he had to be escorted out by security after trying to suck my blood. So Lestat’s thoughts are for him to know and us to find out…even if I have a restraining order against him. Would you, the readers, agree with the characters that people should buy them? Or do you think that we should stick with paperback, and forget about the technological side of things?
Read next week’s edition of, Readers Weekly to find out how Darth Vader felt to be rejected by his own son to rule the world with him!
Above, Maddie Bradley (journalist/reader) reading
Maddie Bradley and Simone Pakavakis are both students at Melbourne Girls College, where I am a distance Ambassador for Reading. I asked their teacher, Sally Sutherland, if she would run a competition so I could come up with a student contribution for the debate. I offered a prize of books, reasoning that any student who thought books were worth winning was the kind of student who was likely to be interested in books, informed and articulate. Every entry I got was great, and in the end I had so much trouble choosing a winner that I decided there would have to be a runner up. I think you will enjoy reading what these two bright young women have to say, as much as I did, and I welcome them to the debate- the future is in their hands, of course. They ARE the future of reading.
Read on for Simone’s piece…
This post made me laugh. I can just see Edward and Lestat sitting on opposite sides of the room, glaring at one another; Edward sitting on the sunny side of course in all his glittery glory.
This is a very interesting take on the e-book versus real book debate and makes me wonder what other characters would have to say if we could get inside their heads.
Great post Maddie, so clever.
thankyou Heather! I’m so glad you enjoyed it.
Funny post Maddie – I do like your take on Voldermort! Edward probably doesn’t even read paperbacks – wouldn’t they be a little modern for him? He probably really wants something leather-bound with gilt edges, smelling faintly of port and cigars. (I was always more of a Jacob fan…)
Letter To The Editor, Reader’s Weekly, C/O Maddie Bradley
This letter was slipped through my letter box at 01:00 hours by a blonde lady in plain clothes. The letterhead bore the inscription Reichler Clinic. The note attached reads, “I dreamt of a dark haired woman who held the key to our past, present and future. Who would have guessed that a letter to a lover could be so valuable?Keep this for future archives, so that others may read about what I have seen and understand.” Hannah Seraphim.
When you read it, you will understand why I felt it pertained to this debate,
Sincerely,
InkAshlings
Letter reads,
“Rushton, Master of Obernewtyn,
Greetings from Guildmistress of the Farseekers, Elspeth Gordie.
By now Garth will be investigating the object we found beneath the Beforetime Library. Matthew speculates that it is an oldtime way of storing books in a computer machine. Perhaps there grew to be too many books in the world and not enough space for all of the Beforetimers grand ideas? Perhaps it was for ease of storage? Matthew loves to speculate; letting that wild imagination of his soar, head in the clouds, with princesses and dragons and princes filling up his vision till one of us- level headed- force him up for air.
Matthew scares me sometimes, with his grand ideas, every bit as big as the Beforetimers before him. These computermachine libraries, if that is what they truly are, could be very useful. It would be a way to make our stories last forever, much longer than dusty books, piled up one by one in a storage vat. No more back breaking lugging, no more days submerged getting eye sore from study underground!
But then I think of Ariel and I shiver to imagine how he would twist such technology to his own ends. Were there controlling Ariel’s in the Beforetimers time? Were there the greedy and the small minded? The Council men and the fanatic Herders? Would such technology have made their job easier or harder to control the people?
The Beforetimers were a hasty people. They did not think of consequences, drunk on their own heady brew of new innovation. In the end, it was not a machine’s choice to destroy their world- they did that all themselves, because they were not afraid of the dangerous and the possible, they were not afraid of that which killed them.
A computer machine that stores books? It is not good or evil of its own volition. It is the people who use it, and what they make of it, who decide…”
Letter breaks off here.
Love it Maddie!! Great take on the debate – made me laugh! I want to hear from my other memorable book characters now, wonder what Jane Eyre, Katniss Everdeen and Briony Tallis would have to say!
Fun post, Maddie! Thoroughly enjoyed it.