NORTH BRANFORD, Conn. -- Kindles, a brand of electronic book, are catching on with many readers. The devices are about the size of a book. You hit a button to turn the page, look up a word, pick another book, or even bookmark your favorite part.

Carrie Seiden, the librarian at Totoket Valley Elementary School in North Branford, is excited for the new device.

Seiden said, We’re excited about any format of books that come out. We are incorporating the e-books and Kindles. We’re very excited about it.”

Electronic books have one key feature – what they can hold.

The Kindle, for example, can store at least 3,500 books.

North Branford School Superintendent Scott Schoonmaker is excited as well.

Schoonmaker said, “It’s capable of picking up wireless and downloading newspapers.”

Schoonmaker is working the math to see if buying the devices, which range in price from $250 to $400 is justifiable. The devices are more cost-effective than buying and replacing textbooks every year. Schoonmaker said on average, it costs about $200 to $800 a year per student to buy, update and refurbish textbooks.

Schoonmaker said, “When you start doing the math -- replacement costs, lost textbooks -- it can grow exceptionally.”

However, with tight school budgets, Schoonmaker said it’s a tough sell. To make it more cost-effective, he is trying to work a deal with Amazon, the company that makes the Kindles, in which the online retailer provides the Kindles for every student in exchange for the school piloting a program where they buy and test all of the downloaded software.

Schoonmaker said, “It’s like a calculator. When it first came out, they were more prohibitive at first and as time goes on and things become more advanced, it will be more cost-effective.”

Students in schools like Totoket Valley Elementary School are hoping that this story has a happy ending.