27 December 1871: Those who have laughed over the adventures of Alice can follow their heroine to a new wonderland in Through the Looking-Glass.
9 July 1888: ‘All children, and those “grown-ups” whose frolicsome tendencies are not wholly submerged in worldly cares, enjoy good nonsense’ - Edward Lear’s Owl and the Pussycat reviewed.
20 November 1891: ‘Give a great writer the skeleton of a real old fairy tale, and he will clothe the dry bones and breathe the breath of life into the hollow ribs and start the creature forth as a new avatar.’
9 December 1906: Already a hit on the stage, JM Barrie’s Peter Pan at Kensington Gardens is published as a book with illustrations by Arthur Rackham.
L Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz is released the same month.
6 December 1928: New children’s books - including AA Milne’s The House at Pooh Corner - may inspire Christmas traditions in the next generation.
29 February 1960: Mary Norton’s tales of the Borrowers keep a sense of wonder.
13 January 1969: Richmal Crompton, who has died, captivated millions of children with her Just William stories.
11 February 1971: Snow White chooses the mines over housework in a new feminist version of the classic fairy tale.
29 March 1973: Richard Adams wins a Guardian book award for Watership Down, stories he made up while away on long train journeys.
29 July 1976: As Forever is published in the UK Guardian Women interviews Judy Blume, the American author who speaks to a generation of teenage girls.
30 January 1982: Percy Westerman’s ripping yarns gripped a generation of boys.
19 November 1983: Star Wars can’t usurp Treasure Island, still the best adventure story around.
6 November 1997: Future children’s laureate Michael Morpurgo on the book he wishes he’d written - The Iron Man by Ted Hughes.
19 November 2015: David Almond wins the Guardian children’s fiction prize for his novel A Song for Ella Grey, a retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice set in the north east.
