JAMES Patterson is a publishing phenomenon.

He has been the world's best-selling author since 2001. He is reckoned to have sold more than 300 million copies, and holds the Guinness World Record for being the first person to sell a million e-books.

He could be forgiven, then, for resting on his laurels, but he has not. Like a Premiership footballer who gives up his spare time to coach the under-14s, he has never forgotten his roots, and is a doughty champion of the traditional, independent bookshop.

He is passionately keen to foster a love of reading among the young. That is why he has announced a new series of grants awarded to bookshops with dedicated children's sections - including five in Scotland. Such places fulfil an important role. They can nurture and inspire a child's imagination through bright, attractive displays and welcoming reading environments which gladden many a parent's heart. The hands-on, interactive experience cannot be matched by a tablet or e-reader, valuable though those tools are.

On the 150th anniversary of his death, it seems apposite to evoke the memory of Abraham Lincoln, who once remarked: "My best friend is the man who'll get me a book I haven't read." If he were alive today, his second best friend might be the person who stocked it.