Mixed Blessings

Perhaps kids aren’t spending all their time in front of the TV. Research by Ipsos-NPD finds Americans bought 201.1 million books for children under age 14 during the first half of 2002. The price tag for all that literature: $762 million. Dollar stores have gained market share, “driving down average prices paid by consumers.” Coloring books and activity books both increased in unit sales, as did storybooks with pictures and sound.

If you can’t make inflammatory remarks about the mighty Cuyahoga, what river can you make them about? Readers of an ad for Cleveland’s Riverfront Cafe will recall the Cuyahoga’s past propensity for catching on fire.