Kate DiCamillo

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and we get to the books we recall from our own childhood. How fabulous to read Charlotte's Web or The Chronicles of Narnia with adult eyes.

Of course, besides Harry Potter, there's been plenty written since we were kids. And if we don't stop reading to our children when they begin to read for themselves, we can discover some new classics in the making.

My then-nine-year-old came across Kate DiCamillo's Tale of Despereaux soon after it was published in 2003, before it won the Newbery Medal for that year. We both loved Despereaux the mouse, who is, as his name suggests, in one desperate situation after another. And while the hero is a mouse, and a princess and some rats also figure in the story, the fascinating psychological layers and poetic, pared language kept me engrossed, too.

Desperaux led us to DiCamillo's other books. Her first, Because of Winn-Dixie, features human characters and a dog in realistic yet magical situations — not just kiddie stuff here. There are a young girl and her father still trying to regain their balance years after the mother leaves; a ragtag group of characters struggling with poverty, alcoholism, and loneliness; and — though the book is set in modern-day Florida — faint echoes of the Civil War.