An electronic book reader, also called an "e-reader," is a device that lets you read digital books and magazines wherever you want.

It has a long battery life and you can even read your e-book in bright sunlight.

There are a lot of e-book readers on the market. I looked at just a few brand name electronic book readers:

• Amazon Kindle
• Barnes & Noble's Nook
• Sony Digital Book

The new iPad is a big competitor, but it costs about $500 (compare with about $300 for other e-readers, and that price is coming down). It's a mini-laptop that can do almost anything!

Your e-reader gives you more than just books. You can:

• Look at maps.
• Look up words in the free dictionary.
• Have internet access, although this is limited and you have to pay for it.
• Download other things onto your electronic book reader, such as school textbooks and music.

Furthermore, some readers have the ability of reading to you, and changing the text direction and size.

The process of downloading books on a Kindle, for example, is actually quite simple:

• On your e-reader, go to the Kindle store and search for the book you want.
• Click on the book with the five-way controller.
• Use the controller to click on the button that says "buy."

It usually takes from five seconds to one minute to download.

I've heard of an e-book company suddenly, and unexpectedly, "taking back" a book that a person purchased, without any warning, due to some technical error.

Imagine losing your book and all the notes you placed on the e-reader to help you write a book report—that is due tomorrow!

If you lose the e-book reader, you also lose $300, plus the cost of any books you had on it. That is a lot of money, so if you get a reader, take care of it!

If you lose a traditional book, you lose what you paid for it. You don't have to replace a regular book unless you want to.

If you lose a library book, the cost could be the same as if you lose one of your own books. This time, however, because it is part of a public facility, you have to replace it.

You also might get charged for the expense to reorder it and return it to the library's collection. No choice. Try talking the librarian into letting you get away with losing a book. You'll see what I mean.