At the Penobscot Narrows Bridge, on my way to the Witherle Library in Castine

Kate Flora: Let’s face it–it is so easy to click onto Amazon and order that we often default to that mode. But readers who love books, and bookstores, and browsing the shelves or asking the staff for suggestions, know that if we don’t support them, local bookstores will go the way of the dinosaurs. This would leave a hole in our lives, a hole we may not even recognize until we suddenly need a book to read right now or don’t know what we want and need informed suggestions. If we want to keep our local bookstores, let’s make a vow to balance our on-line buying with shopping local.

Here, in no particular order, are ways you can support your local bookstore without breaking your budget.

Baby Presents: Sure, we all love buying those cute little pink or blue outfits, which are

Lyn Smith’s wonderful new book

quickly outgrown. But a book can give pleasure over and over and over, and even become something that the children will revisit for their own children. Consider what books you loved as a child. What books that you pick off the shelves have magical illustrations that you can imagine a mom or dad showing to a small child? Goodnight Moon never gets old. Neither does the little slipcase of Maurice Sendak books small enough for a young child’s hands. A stack of individually wrapped books, perhaps in

Illustration from The Porcupine’s Promenade

a tote the parents can reuse, makes a wonderful baby gift. And while you’re there, if there are older siblings, it is nice to include wrapped books for those other children. Most bookstores will have totes as well, a great selection of cards, and many will wrap for free.

Wedding Presents: Often, by the time I get to the gift registry, anything I would like to buy is gone, and I’m not ready to spring for the $500 appliance. I also like to find something that the couple can reuse for years to come. My solution? Cook’s Illustrated’s amazing cookbook: The New Best Recipe, which is not only a good cookbook, but a great read. In this book, the authors detail the many experiments they went through to reach the final recipe, and why it ended up being the version chosen. It’s a lesson in the science of cooking. I wrap it and then put it, and a card, inside of an interesting tote bag that can be reused many times. I’m also currently enamored with Yottam Ottolenghi’s cookbooks, including Plenty, for vegetarians, and Jerusalem for the recipes and the amazing photos. Want to be creative? Get a few of the exotic ingredients the recipes call for, like pomegranate molasses or sumac, and stick a few of them in the tote. For lovers of Maine, there’s , which has illustrations of places as well as food.

The couple aren’t cooks? No problem. A coffee table book of the location they’re going for their honeymoon, or the place they met, or perhaps one that echoes their hobbies. The possibilities are endless. You’ve given a thoughtful gift and supported your local bookstore.

Hostess Gifts: Here the possibilities are also endless. And can be so much more creative than the usual wine or flowers. A copy of a book you’ve recently read and loved? A cookbook you’ve just discovered and think they’d like. A small chapbook that will also support a local poet. A pair of books that connect, like The Sun Also Rises and The Paris Wife.

The “Treat Yourself” Binge: We all think of summer as the

The garden book I drool over, and there is Gardens Maine Style 2 as well

time when we’re going to take a break from work, kick back, and read, right? So to help make that happen, treat yourself to a trip to the bookstore, and buy

yourself two or three books you’ve been saying you’re going to read. I recently binge read three Frederik Bachman books: A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, and Britt Marie was here. Loved all three and it was so much fun to just move from one book to the next. Maybe for you it will be Jane Austen, or rereading Dick Francis, or discovering a new mystery author binge reading the whole series. (We at Maine Crime Writers love this option.)

Grandma or Grandpa’s Book Club: Thanks to Hank Phillippi Ryan for this idea…each month, your grandchild sends you a postcard listing a current interest or long-for book, and you send a book. I am looking forward to sending the Lemony Snicket series.

What other ways can you think of to support your local bookstore? I posed this question to my Facebook friends, and got some great suggestions, including this one for supporting both local bookstores and your library. Starting this summer, Devaney, Doak & Garrett in Farmington is introducing this program: