"THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF EDWARD TULANE" by Kate DiCamillo, Bagram Ibatoulline illustrator, Candlewick Press, ages 8 and up, $18.99

With a new book under her belt, award-winning children's author Kate DiCamillo is in town to sign copies on Wednesday.

DiCamillo, 42, has created characters destined to become children's classics, such as the canine hero of "Because of Winn-Dixie," which was made into a film last year, and chosen by Hawai'i's children to receive the 2005 Nene Award.

Based in Minneapolis, DiCa-millo also penned "The Tiger Rising" and "The Tale of Despereaux," which won the prestigious Newbery Medal in 2003. She recently completed a series of books for young readers featuring Mercy Watson the pig.

Edward Tulane is an exquisite rabbit quite enamored with himself, and why wouldn't he be? Commissioned by his owner's grandmother, he was crafted in France, almost entirely of china, his ears and tail made of real rabbit fur, with silk suits, leather shoes and a real pocket watch for Edward's front pocket. His owner, 10-year-old Abilene, adores him completely.

"In all, Edward Tulane felt himself to be an exceptional specimen. Only his whiskers gave him pause. They were long and elegant (as they should be), but they were of uncertain origin. Edward felt quite strongly that they were not the whiskers of a rabbit. Whom the whiskers had belonged to initially — what unsavory animal — was a question that Edward could not bear to consider for too long. And so he did not. He preferred, as a rule, not to think unpleasant thoughts."

Grandmother intuits Edward is unloving and self-absorbed, and she lets him know this disappoints her in a scene that will replay in Edward's thoughts throughout the book.

Edward's life on Egypt Street is mostly uneventful until Abilene's parents decide to take a trip to England on the Queen Mary. Aboard the ship, two mean-spirited boys throw Edward overboard. At the bottom of the ocean, Edward begins to feel his first genuine emotion — fear. A storm eventually brings him up to the water's surface, where he's discovered by a fisherman, the first of many twists and turns in the rabbit's fate.

The book itself has a timeless feel, with vanilla-colored pages, striking color plates, and lots of white space. Ibatoulline's winsome full-color and sepia-tone illustrations in acrylic gouache are indeed miraculous.

Lovingly told, DiCamillo's affection for her characters shines through and overtakes you — and by the book's end, readers will care deeply.