>6. Harry Potter. I know we should wait until Deathly Hallows,
>but I think it's worth talking about. The most important
>'children's series' since Narnia deserves mentioning in the
>canon.

i love the harry potter series. i don't think j.k. rowling is that great of a writer, though. is that a good enough reason to not include the series? out of the blue, when you mentioned narnia it reminded me of the lewis essay on children's writing: "once in a hotel dining-room I said, rather too loudly, 'I loathe prunes.' 'So do I,' came an unexpected six-year-old voice from another table. Sympathy was instantaneous. Neither of us thought it funny. We both knew that prunes are far too nasty to be funny. That is the proper meeting between man and child as independent personalities."

not related, 2 books that i'd add:

mrs. dalloway.
the tin drum.