Texas Pages

From a youth title that just crossed the books editor's desk:

"Have you ever seen a face hidden in the bark of a tree and known that the man trapped inside wanted to hurt you?"

Uh, no.

Sorry fans. You can't major in Muggle Studies. Yet.

But you can find the world's most favoritest boy wizard popping up in college classrooms and textbooks, says CNN. Says the report:

Philip Nel, author of "J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Novels: A Reader's Guide" and professor of children's literature at Kansas State University, started teaching the books in 2002.

"Harry Potter is unfairly maligned simply because of the audience for which it is intended. Children's literature is literature, and if people don't agree with that definition, it's sort of hard to have a conversation with them," Nel said. "They see things that ... are easily accessible as therefore not serious and therefore not worthy of serious inquiry."

Patricia MacLachlan, Newberry-winning author of "Sarah, Plain and Tall," tells Nancy Churnin of the moment that inspires her newest work, "Edward's Eyes." It's about a boy whose parents donate his corneas after his death.

Writes Nancy:

She got the idea for the book when her older son, John, a photographer, returned home from Africa where he had been working for primatologist Jane Goodall. That's when she noticed he had indicated on his driver's license that he was an organ donor.

And then, he said the words that inspired her novel.

"The Mistress's Daughter" comes out in paperback today.

Here's a look back at the interview she did before her Dallas appearance last year.

And here was my own take on her appearance.

Looking back a year later, my personal experiences as an adoptee made it hard to look be objective about the book. I enthusiastically applaud her for giving voice to the experience. I also disagreed with the way she handled some things.

If you read this one -- what was your take?

Some of this week's literary goodies:
* Compulsion, by Jonathan Kellerman (Ballantine Books, $27). The 22nd mystery starring retired child psychologist Alex Delaware.
* Blue-Eyed Devil, by Lisa Kleypas (St. Martin's, $21.95). Romance about the daughter of a rich Texan businessman.
* Buckingham Palace Gardens, by Anne Perry (Ballantine, $26). The 25th Thomas Pitt mystery, in which a murdered prostitute is found in a cupboard at Buckingham Palace.
* Hollywood Crows, by Joseph Wambaugh (Little, Brown, $26.99). Examines corruption in the LAPD through a new member of the Community Relations Office.
* In the Frame: My Life in Words and Pictures, by Helen Mirren (Atria, $35). Illustrated memoir of the film and TV star.
* Yankee Stadium: The Official Retrospective, by Al Santasiere and Mark Vancil (Pocket, $50). Recalls the stadium's 85-year history, just before its last season.
* Mistaken Identity: Two Families, One Survivor, Unwavering Hope, by Don and Susie Van Ryn, Newell, Colleen and Whitney Cerak (Howard Books, $21.99). Explores the incident in which a girl was buried under the name of another girl who was in a coma.