The Narnia Chronicles
Author: C.S. Lewis
1950-1956

Written in the span of six years, the seven books that make up this series-The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician's Nephew, and The Last Battle-aren't very well-known in India (for that matter, how many books are?), but they remain modern classics. The books are coloured (not tainted) by C.S. Lewis' belief that children could be taught religion through fantasy, but the saffron brigade can breathe easy-Pilgrim's Progress these books aren't. For the benefit of the purists, the books are listed here in the order in which they were written and not according to Narnia time, which is how they are ordered in recent boxed sets.

The works of Roald Dahl
Author: Roald Dahl

From Fantastic Mr Fox to James and The Giant Peach To Matilda to (the book everyone knows about, but few have actually read) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dahl's books are widely available in India which makes me suspect that they are widely read as well. Readers of this magazine will probably prefer My Uncle Oswald (a pity Dahl didn't excerpt more of his racy exploits), but few children's books can match the wicked wit of Revolting Rhymes, Dahl's take on six fairy-tales. There's no better way of introducing your child to humour of the quirky variety.

His Dark Materials Trilogy
Author: Philip Pullman
1995-1999

Had literary merit been the only consideration, Philip Pullman's Dark Materials-think of it as a boy-and-girl-get-together-to-save-their-respective-worlds-story with several gripping subplots-would have perhaps been a bigger success than Harry Potter. In this world, it isn't. Pullman's trilogy is definitely darker in patches than children's books ought to be but surely, in a world where seven-year-olds swear by Quake III: Arena, that isn't all that bad.

Roverandom
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
1925

One of the master's lesser-known works, this is the story of a dog that incurs the wrath of a wizard and is transformed into a toy, and how he makes the long and arduous journey back to being 'real'. Read it aloud, even if you are reading it by yourself-the metre is outstanding. Come to think of it, children with a thing for reading can even digest The Hobbit.

The Last Unicorn
Author: Peter S. Beagle
1968

The finest book by this author and, to my mind, the finest children's fantasy ever, this is the story of the last unicorn and her search for the rest of her kind. I haven't seen a copy in bookstores here for some time, but surely the resourceful can lay their hands on one. It's worth the effort.