Following on...which of today's children's/ teenagers books will be classics in another 20 years?

[Sixofone]

What a scary thought, that our kids will one day be looking back with fondness on childhood/ teenage books, but which ones?!

Definitely Harry Potter, has to be
Dark Materials trilogy

any others?

A lot of Michael Morpurgo, esp Adolphus Tips, Kensuke's Kingdom, Private Peaceful

The Gruffalo and other stories, I bloody love those.

If Bearhunt survives or for that matter Guess how much I love you survives, I will stick pins in my own eyeballs.

Agree with Marina about Morpurgo.

Lauren Child, specially Clarice Bean. Probably not Jacqueline Wilson - you read it for the emotional hit and that's not something you get nostalgic about IMO.

Isn't there a difference between something becoming a classic and something being remembered fondly, though?
A classic will continue to be read by the next generation, whereas things you remember fondly can be quite specific to your own age group.

Oh definitely Clarice Bean.
I think I Love You Blue Kangaroo has genuine classic potential too, if we are talking picture books

Ok, so let's change it to what will they remember fondly

Oh then Bree's eyeballs are safe, surely - pissed students aren't going to be reminiscing about the Nut-Brown Hare, are they?

If you are talking about what the next generation will read then I Coriander is a classic in the making.
Cornelia Funke's books will survive too, I think.
Agree with Marina about Morpurgo also.
The whole process of survival is so mysterious though. Earlier this summer, DD1 and I were looking through the list of Carnegie winners over the past 70 years and they fell into three distinct groups for us: those that were still popular and in print; those that are still read but only exist in battered secondhand copies; and those that had vanished without a trace. They were fairly randomly distributed over the years as well. And yet each of these was at one time judged to be the best children's book published in that particular year.

They will be in the Remember Fondly camp for many readers I suppose Rosa.
For me a fascinating example is the Paul Berna books, written in 50s/60s France, ALL translated and published by Puffin in the UK in the 60s. These must have been very much the thing because dh and I both read some ourselves, and had them read aloud to us in class - separate primary schools.
They are no longer in print, and yet I think they are fabulous adventure yarns. Google Paul Berna though, and his web presence is negligible, even in France itself.
Books crystallise a period whereas we progress (open to debate as to whether that's a good thing) and tastes evolve. The Berna books are both more forthright in menace/contains scenes of moderate peril and yet also more restrained in how that danger is conveyed.

And well done to the Carnegie panel for not being afraid to just not award a prize in certain years because nothing was good enough!

Bree, I think Anita Jeram is hugely overrated. And ghastly tbh.

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time

We've never had any of her books. Are they as sickly as they look?

Bunny My Honey, pass the sick bag please
Yes I think that's another stayer Piffle
And I wonder, having caught some of the smashing dramatisation of Alex Shearer's Bootleg on CBBC lately, whether that book will too. Has gone right to the top of our Must Read list.

I think Horrid Henry might survive. It'll be the next Just William. Some of the Ahlberg books. Does Sendak count as contemporary?

I reckon there are a few on the list that absolutely NOBODY remembers Marina. What about The story of your home by Agnes Allen (1949). Doesn't sound promising!

No, I agree, that one sounds a dud
A Valley Grows Up and The Making of Man sound suspiciously Improving too.
I've heard of most of the others but then dh and I are both librarians and dh's mother was in children's publishing and then teaching.
Astonishing to see no Joan Aiken titles on the list, with hindsight.

Lovely question.
I'm keener on Philip Reeve than Philip Pullman - I think Larklight is a keeper.

I would very much hope that Lemony Snicket sinks without trace.

Yep, Gruffalo. It has managed not to suffocate under its own success (and potboiler sequels), so it'll survive.

Clarice Bean is actually good, so I'll give you that.

Lots and lots of Allan Ahlberg's things.
Artemis Fowl Coram Boy

Currently, the "read and read and read again" prize goes to Mark Haddon's Agent z books.

Diana Wynne Jones, lots of, too - though she was writing 20 years ago so I don't know if she counts as contemporary for these purposes?

Speaking of Allan Ahlberg, am I the only person who likes his book The Little Cat Baby? It is so fab in a very surreal sort of way, but I never see it around anywhere.

I'm not sure she strictly counts for the purposes of this thread bink but she counts overall I'd say

I don't know that one Rosa but Allan and Janet Ahlberg are picture book gods in our house, along with Quentin Blake. Burglar Bill, Peepo and The Baby's Catalogue, not to mention Each Peach, Pear Plum and Blake's Clown, Cockatoo and The Green Ship.

Never been in paperback I see the little cat baby
DD3 is having a great time with the Red Nose Readers. I love his sense of humour.

I agree with Bink about Coram Boy too.

Coram Boy is one of the saddest books I've ever read, agree it's a masterpiece. The Foundling Hospital Museum is well worth a visit.
Also agree re Artemis Fowl and the loathesome Lemony Snicket. Ds will normally read anything but declined to follow the series after just one book.