I've got the big Panasonic Lumix like the one pictured above, and it's excellent. It does all I've ever wanted of a camera, and I can drive it, too!
I tried the little "pocket" model and was less impressed.
Granddaughter 1 borrowed mine for some school project, and I only got it back when her mum bought her the same model for her own.
You won't regret it!
Oh - and get a spare battery as well (not expensive) and make sure you have a reasonable size memory card for it. Mine's 2GB which is enough for me. You don't want to be forever changing cards.