By Sarah Police

Staff Writer

I’m one of “those” kids. The kid that doesn’t finish their homework because they were too caught up in a book. The one that instead of reading the history textbook will re-read the tragic downfall of Voldemort.

You know the commercial for the Kindle with the guy and the girl and they’re debating Kindle vs. books? And then the girl says how she loves to dog-ear the pages. I am definitely that person.

I love the fresh paper smell of new books and how when I open them for the first time, the pages are crisp. It is even an added bonus when all the books are in one place.

I’m not really a person who is too concerned with keeping up with all of the new technology stuff but I was kind of thrown off when someone asked me why didn’t I just buy an iPad instead of lugging around my hoard of books? I nonchalantly shrugged them off but their question stuck with me.

Now, with the appearance of the iPad 2 I am slightly gravitating away from my safety blanket and am more inclined to ditch the paper copies. Instead of carrying my 20-pound purse with my phone, camera, iPod, and book in it, I can combine them all into one device. I could have everything I want all in one package. It is like Christmas came early this year and stopped by the Police house.

Sure, it is nice to be able to highlight the page and doodle in the margins, but you can also access these features in the iPad. Additionally, you can also use the iPad for other things than just reading. You can surf the web and download apps to satisfy your every need.

While all of these features are nice, I might become distracted. Though the ability of having all of these things at the tip of my fingers is useful, there are also these things called YouTube, Angry Birds and Twitter.  I would drift from reading my school assignment to things like Facebook and Cut the Rope. I probably wouldn’t get anything done.

Recently, I was punished for my procrastination and I ran all over Dallas looking for a special edition of Frankenstein for my English class. Then I heard someone in my class bragging about how they didn’t have to go on a witch-hunt. Instead, they just bought the book on their iPad. And then I just felt stupid.

However, if I had a book, it would prevent me from procrastinating and force me to work. I love the smell of a book hot off the press and if my iPad doesn’t load? No problem. I have my hardcopy at home.

Plus if I continue to support the book industry, I will be supporting the jobs of many people, which will help boost the economy. Think about how many people it takes to edit, bind and print just one book. So if I had to make a decision, it would be my books. Maybe next year I’ll be able to leave my comfort zone.