Camera Suggestions for Budding Photojournalist

My wife is becoming very interested in photojournalism and I'd like to get her a camera to learn with. She wants something fairly simple, small and unobtrusive, but she's still interested in learning about how cameras work. I've got a Canon 40D that she's been using and I've been teaching her about the basics. I talked to her about getting an SLR, maybe a Rebel, but I honestly think she'd like something a bit smaller, like the Canon G10 or Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3. If anyone could comment on these or other options please let me know. Thanks for your help.