Thanks Gryph.
Inky, you can find reasonable priced SLR's.
The camera I'm using is a Nikon D40 and it was a display model at the store. You can find those pretty cheap. The expensive part are the lenses. Not to mention other accessories such as the added flash, lighting kits, cleaning kits, tripods etc.
I have a 55-200mm lens that was $300. If you are wanting incredible pictures without having to use much lighting, you're looking at over $1000.
But I would definitely suggest the D40 for your daughter. It's very light and durable. It's compact size is incredibly convenient and it takes really really good shots. You hardly have to edit any of the photos. All I did on some that I posted was desaturate the color and change some hues for the creek shot. But that's it really. It's a great starter camera. Canon rebels are good as well but are a little more expensive. Not sure why as they have the same capabilities if not less than Nikon's models.
Don't bother getting a D60, it's practically the same as the 40 and they're charging a ridiculous amount of money. There are tiny differences and they're not significant enough to pay $2-300 more. Hope this helps.