Babies, Arthur, and books

Baby shower card

I was just thinking about Arthur, one of my favorite children's book series, and how I recently learned that Arthur is an aardvark. For some reason, I always thought Arthur was a gopher or a bear or something. And he's an aardvark who owns a dog! Wow, the power of imagination. Sigh, the things I learn when I'm an adult. 

I don't know why the thought of babies made me think about Arthur and books, but while I'm on this topic...

The rise of e-book readers and Borders' liquidation sales worry me about the future of paper books. If a giant like Borders can't even make it, I can't even begin to think about the hundreds of small independent bookstores that will be affected. Will we eliminate bookstores and just resort to online sellers (Amazon, half.com), or will paper books get eliminated completely? I understand that books take up space and aren't eco-friendly, but I'd like to think that there are too many paper book advocates out there for them to go completely extinct. So sad.