What sort of photos are you wanting to take?
If you're wanting a general camera for any purpose, holidays, random events, birthdays, etc. then go for a small compact.
All the Canons are good. Casio also make some good camera. The Casio Z75 is a good price right now. Better (though perhaps with features you don't need right now) is the V8. The V7 is also very good (its older brother).
What to look for:
- Ignore any talk of digital zoom. Never use it.
- Optical zoom -- the more the better. Most are 3x or there abouts on compacts.
- Megapixels. Above 6 and there is no difference. 4 megapixels is enough for a decent A4 print at full size.
- viewfinder. Used to be necessary, as that was the bit of glass you looked through to take your photo. Now, the LCD at the back is used. Manufacturers used to include both because the LCD wasn't very bright (and therefore viewable) in direct sunlight, so composing a picture was hard. Now, the LCDs are much bighter, so many manufacturers save room on the back and take off the viewfinder, leaving room for a place for your thumb or some other control.