We're actually developing a cultural divide between those of us who can remember when the original Star Wars movie first came out, and those of us for whom Star Wars has simply always been part of the cultural landscape.For me, it was the summer between fourth and fifth grades. I can still remember seeing the advertisements in the newspaper, and seeing the reports on television about the groundswell of popularity that had arisen around it, of kids opening lemonade stands to fund their ability to see it again and again.

Unfortunately, its PG rating put the kibosh on my chance of actually seeing it. But I remember borrowing the illustrated storybook from the library so many times the librarian finally remarked that I should not monopolize it (to be fair, the small-town library was tiny, with a mere 800 volumes in a single cramped room, so it probably was problematic to have one person borrowing a book over and over again).

And that's why I was so delighted to run across the Princess Leia story scope viewer. As I peered through the tiny lens at the pictures within, it brought back memories of those days of poring over the Star Wars storybook, admiring the pictures as I read the text, wishing I could actually see the movie but knowing that was most unlikely.