Buy a Book and Good Things Will Happen

Over the last few days, I’ve seen plenty of stories about Rhiannon Barnes, the 15-month-old resident of Georgia who found $1300 stuck between the pages of a used book.

According to the child’s baby-sitter, little Rhiannon was quite insistent that the book be purchased for her. And every article I’ve read said the book was purchased at a thrift store for 25 cents. Here’s what I haven’t seen (and if you have, please let me know): What the heck was the title of the book? What year was it published? And what was it about the book that made Rhiannon so dead set on possessing it? Was it shiny? (Don’t laugh: like magpies, kids demonstrably are attracted to shiny objects.) Did it have a picture of a goat on the cover? A duck? A Smurf? Or was it just some strong instinct on the kid’s part? The heart wants, as they say, what it wants?

Either way, here’s the message I hope people (non-recreational reading people) take away from them: buying books is good. Or, further: only good things can happen to people who buy books.