diff --git a/colander/__init__.py b/colander/__init__.py
index e128e86..893f28b 100644
--- a/colander/__init__.py
+++ b/colander/__init__.py
@@ -603,9 +603,10 @@ class DateTime(object):
     the time, and uses the ``default_tzinfo`` to give the
     serialization a timezone.
 
-    This type can only convert ISO8601 values that include a date, a
-    time, and a timezone (or ``Z``) in their representations.  It will
-    fail to parse date-only ISO8601 representations.
+    Likewise, for convenience, during deserialization, this type will
+    convert ``YYYY-MM-DD`` ISO8601 values to a datetime object.  It
+    does so by using midnight of the day as the time, and uses the
+    ``default_tzinfo`` to give the serialization a timezone.
 
     The subnodes of the :class:`colander.SchemaNode` that wraps
     this type are ignored.
@@ -628,9 +629,14 @@ class DateTime(object):
         try:
             result = iso8601.parse_date(value)
         except (iso8601.ParseError, TypeError), e:
-            raise Invalid(node,
-                          '%s cannot be parsed as an iso8601 datetime: %s' %
-                          (value, e))
+            try:
+                year, month, day = map(int, value.split('-', 2))
+                result = datetime.datetime(year, month, day,
+                                           tzinfo=self.default_tzinfo)
+            except Exception, e:
+                raise Invalid(node,
+                              '%s cannot be parsed as an iso8601 date: %s' %
+                              (value, e))
         return result
 
 class Date(object):
diff --git a/colander/tests.py b/colander/tests.py
index 3255698..319a7f2 100644
--- a/colander/tests.py
+++ b/colander/tests.py
@@ -952,21 +952,24 @@ class TestDateTime(unittest.TestCase):
         expected = dt.isoformat()
         self.assertEqual(result, expected)
 
-    def test_deserialize_invalid_TypeError(self):
+    def test_deserialize_date(self):
         import datetime
-        # cant parse dates without times
+        import iso8601
         date = datetime.date.today()
         typ = self._makeOne()
         formatted = date.isoformat()
         node = DummySchemaNode(None)
-        e = invalid_exc(typ.deserialize, node, formatted)
-        self.failUnless('cannot be parsed' in e.msg)
+        result = typ.deserialize(node, formatted)
+        expected = datetime.datetime.combine(result, datetime.time())
+        tzinfo = iso8601.iso8601.Utc()
+        expected = expected.replace(tzinfo=tzinfo)
+        self.assertEqual(result.isoformat(), expected.isoformat())
 
     def test_deserialize_invalid_ParseError(self):
         node = DummySchemaNode(None)
         typ = self._makeOne()
         e = invalid_exc(typ.deserialize, node, 'garbage')
-        self.failUnless('Unable to parse' in e.msg)
+        self.failUnless('cannot be parsed' in e.msg)
 
     def test_deserialize_success(self):
         import datetime