Read any good screens lately?

Editors and publisher who decide what children will be reading in six months or a year are having a hard time seeing the future these days. Books for children were good sellers during the dismal holiday season this year. Bookstores had a difficult time keeping enough copies of Stephanie Meyers' Twilight series on the shelf. And yet, and those pesky e-books keep gaining on print. One commentator after another notices how popular the less expensive electronic versions of books are becoming. Amazon's Kindle has been a success and offers bargains in books that parents find hard to ignore. Children are becoming used to finding information and entertainment online. Will this trend grow big enough to push print versions off the market or will e-books continue to occupy a niche of its own and leave lots of room for more traditional formats? Publishers would give a lot to know the answer--and so would librarians. Libraries face more of a dilemma than parents. Should they invest in e-book readers or expect the children to own one? Should they put precious budget dollars into e-books or not? The future looks dim and foggy. Those who guess well will have a bright future, so we all must keep looking for the light.