The market for e-books is an enduring conundrum for publishers: a necessary investment while they wait out a mass market for digital books that has yet to, and may not, materialize.

But children's publishing and media company Scholastic Inc. sees its latest e-book project as a branding and marketing opportunity to help drive book sales. Plus, if the younger set warms up to e-book formats on mobile devices in the future, the company is taking no chances with positioning now.

The New York-based publishing giant plans to release 19 best-selling titles in e-book format, including its popular Dear America, Royal Diaries, Remnants and Scholastic Question & Answer book series.

The titles, extremely popular among children aged 8 and up, will be available online at retailers such as Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com. They will be priced for $1 less than the printed versions and available on Microsoft's Reader, which also works with Pocket PC formats, and Abobe's e-book reader formats (Mac and PC compatible).

Barbara Marcus, president of Scholastic's Children's Book Publishing and Distribution Group, said the project is first and foremost a branding effort designed to promote and drive print sales.

"Although mass market (of e-books) is years away, kids in the teen and tween age-groups will likely be adopters of this format," she said. "We also believe that teachers will be interested in the e-book for classroom use as the formats and readers become more appealing."

Other authors soon to be among Scholastic's digital content trove are K.A. Applegate of "Animorphs" fame and Karen Hesse, the 1998 Newbery Award-winner for children's books.

Scholastic, like other major publishing houses, is still testing the waters in the e-book category, looking for ways to make the format work economically and protecting its investments in the meantime.

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Other publishing houses, including Random House and Time Warner, have just decided to cut their losses by shelving their e-book ventures for now, while online content sellers such as Contentville and Mightywords have ended their runs.

But divining how younger readers might consume digital versions of popular titles such as K.A. Applegate's popular "Animorphs" series is still an open question with publishers and marketers alike. The "Animorphs" series has reached an audience of 38 million, placing it among the more successful children's series ever published.

Whether that popularity can extend to digital formats is the next test as Scholastic makes the top-sellers available as part of its e-publishing initiative it launched in the spring of 2000.

The project began with "Hate Hurts," a book about discrimination, and was followed by another series of e-book installments by K.A. Applegate called "Remnants".

Last October, Scholastic developed an enhanced e-book version of its "Dear America" historical books by offering enhanced audio, video and information in e-book formats along with a $9.95 promotion.

And the company said it is forging on with its teen-focused, e-book imprint called PUSH, in conjunction with Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc. and Interactive Program Guide services (IPG).