Trying to pick a book for eight year-olds is like... like... well, it isn't easy. Especially when you're trying to find a book to read to an entire room full of third graders at Dana Gray Elementary in Fort Bragg.

I thought I had found my book when I discovered Grayson by Lynne Cox. Grayson is a short book with short chapters. It's a true tale, with a hint of magic, about a young woman swimming off the coast of southern California and her encounter with a lost baby Gray whale.

I read the first chapter out loud to my wife Joselyn, the teacher. "The stars had set. The sea and sky were inky black, so black I could not see my hands pulling water in front my face, so black there was no separation between the sea and the sky. They melted together."

Is that too difficult for third graders? I think not. Sure, it's a bit scary, but so is third grade the first week or two. The mother whale is reunited with her baby and the families standing on the pier at Seal Beach cheer and cry with happiness.

I once read an entire Harry Potter novel to one of Joselyn's classes. We had a ball. The kids remembered better than I where exactly we left off the previous week. When I mispronounced Hermione, they corrected me. Several of the kids were reading along with me at home and were bursting to tell everyone what was going to happen next.

At the end of Harry Potter we had a party. The kids brought brooms and had an excellent time flying themselves around the class room. Everyone got their own magic wand filled with sparkles, and we taste-tested Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans.

Ugh, snake poop! Yum, banana!

So I'm still searching for just the right book to read out loud. Several people have recommended the latest novel by Kate DiCamillo. I have some experience with this author, having successfully read her Newbery award-winning novel The Tale of Desperaux to yet another of Joselyn's classes.

Desperaux went over well, and we had another party at the end. This time we celebrated with soup (you'd have to read Desperaux to understand) and we all had a very good time.

Kate DiCamillo's latest novel is The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, highly praised by teachers, by other booksellers, by regular people.

I didn't like it. Why am I so contrarian on this one?

The story concerns an elegantly constructed china rabbit named Edward Tulane who is full of himself. He's so conceited he takes his luxurious life for granted and hardly notices the little girl who loves him. He receives numerous rough life lessons and eventually learns that love is everything.

It's the kind of story that could make false teeth itch. It's predictable, it's didactic, it's boring. Otherwise, it's just great.

The beautiful drawings and paintings by Bagram Ibatoulline are exceptional. The book is the right length for reading out loud, the words are challenging but not too challenging, and so forth.

I have a high regard for third graders. These second grade veterans already have a good grip on what's important in life. They'll see through this story. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is a Christian-flavored parable that can be summed up in a couple of sentences.

Grayson, on the other hand:

"The baby whale swam under me and I could feel waves of water peeling off his body and rolling under my legs and feet. Putting my face into the water, I looked down. He was about fifteen feet below me and if whales can smile, I think he was smiling. He was moving his fluke (tail fin) up and down and slipping through the transparent gray water effortlessly with so much power and efficiency."

I'll bring in a Gray whale baby for show and tell. We'll require a large truck, about a ton of sea water, and a very long leash, but I think we can do it.

I'll have to ask Joselyn if it's OK to have a baby whale in her classroom. I think she'll say yes. After all, she's married to me. Give and take, and all that.

Aired Sunday August 27, 2006 at 10:55 am and Wednesday August 30, 2006 at 1:00 pm

Orders/Information:

Grayson by Lynne Cox. Knopf hardcover $16.95. ISBN 0307264548. Lynne Cox also is author of "Swimming to Antarctica." She swam the English Channel at age 15, and she's swimming still. Her articles have appeared in the LA Times Magazine and The New Yorker.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline. Candlewick Press hardcover $18.99. ISBN 0763625892.