The greatest stories ever told?

JK Rowling and Jacqueline Wilson top the bestseller lists. Businessmen and teenagers alike devour Harry Potter and His Dark Materials. But that's just the tip of the iceberg, says Dina Rabinovitch in today's Guardian- there is so much talent out there that this is a truly extraordinary era in children's literature. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/books for the whole story. Well worth a read.

Anna - yes, I saw it, 'twas interesting.

But with the grown-ups reading Harry Potter, and so on, what are we looking at here? 'Children's literature' doesn't seem like an adequate descriptor. The article went on to say that 'Alice in Wonderland' was the first book to put a child at the centre of the story, and so was the first book in what we understand today as 'children's literature'. I don't know enough to say whether this is true or not. But I wonder how many children read 'Alice ...', or how many grown-ups these days, either.

An elitist snob (not me I'm quick to say) might claim that much fiction for adults is more suited to children - but that would certainly be patronising to children, and a more generous soul can make a case that much writing aimed at 'children' is of a quality to deserve the widest possible audience and the deepest consideration, irrespective of the age of the reader. And frankly, who gives a damn what people read and what categories it can be slotted into. (Oh, right, publishers for one, that's who...booksellers for two.)

But the adult infatuation with the 'boy wizard' has always puzzled me. Maybe I'm an old grump and I just don't 'get' the magic of Harry Potter that others seem to enjoy so well. Where's the pace, eh? Now Enid Blyton, she was pacy as ****

Time for a soothing mug of Ovaltine and up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire, methinks, and a quick squint at Thomas A'Kempis (no, not a writer of fantasy ...well, not that kind anyway), until mine eyelids droop and the Sandman whisks me away to Dreamland.

Joe