Interesting ideas, Jeff. One thing I like about physical books is the portability. I don't own an e-book reader or iPhone, and I don't necessarily have the time to sit in front of a computer screen and read an entire book. I like the physical act of holding a book and turning the pages, and sticking the thing in my bag and carrying it with me when I need to, and then hauling the thing out to show my friends a particularly good passage. (Plus it doesn't run out of electricity or require batteries, which are also green considerations.)

#11 Kibble: Because Wilford Brimley is a perfect being! Just like Elvis! (All apologies to Mojo Nixon)

"survival of the fittest" = "survival of those luckiest enough to avoid disease, starvation, predators, and accident long enough to breed the next generation".

Funny how that gets missed.

Ummm... Glassmusic? Read and learn.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/business/yourmoney/03view.html?_r=1&_&oref=slogin

Immigrants add to the local culture, pay taxes every time they buy something, tend to avoid applying for benefits so they don't run afoul of ICE, and learn the language quickly as a matter of survival.

And those anchor babies? They're likely to end up incarcerated along with their parents while they wait for their hearings, or else left in the tender care of the foster system.

http://firedoglake.com/2007/06/16/immigration-and-the-family/

Ignatz
(Proud son of an immigrant)

Gotta second Lloyd Alexander. "Time Cat" was a great piece of episodic SF, and his final meisterwerk "The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio" is like Umberto Eco for kids.

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Daniel Pinkwater's "Young Adult Novel"! The perfect meta-YA novel, and brilliant genre satire! (The Neddiad and its follow-up, The Yggdrasey, are also amazing.)

I should also mention "The Girl with the Silver Eyes". It's not the best writing in the world, but it does touch on beneficial mutation, unexpected drug side effects, and how to deal with alienation. It also refers to other books like The Scarlet Pimpernel, which is an added plus.

And while Louis Sachar's "Holes" is not SF or fantasy, it is the tightest piece of fiction I've ever read. Three separate plotlines, and if something shows up in one, it'll show up somewhere else.

Ya know, I didn't see the Bartimaeus Trilogy up there! Jonathan Stroud's other YA fiction is good too. But we have most definitely come a long way from Paul Zindel, S.E Hinton and Madeline l'Engle.

I would have to agree about the Harry Potterization of the field; it's encouraged publishers to put out more YA fantasy in an attempts to cash in. Best thing is, HP is definitely encouraging further reading. Surf some HP fan forums, and you're almost guaranteed to find a long thread on what else people are reading. (I've suggested "The Crying of Lot 49" and the Illuminatus! trilogy to a number of kids. Just doing my part...)