You may have noticed that in the library we have quite an extensive ‘classics’ section.  So what makes a book a classic?  This is a question that critics and writers have struggled with for a long time.  On one level, a ‘classic’ is believed to be an especially noteworthy text, something that can stand the test of time and mean something to successive generations.  An Italian writer called Italo Calvino once defined a classic as ‘a book that has never finished what it has to say.’  There is also some truth in the English playwright Alan Bennett’s definition that it is ‘a book everyone is assumed to have read and often thinks they have read themselves.’   But there is another interpretation of the classic too.  Personal classics are the books that have made such an impact on you that you read them again and again, and find yourself saying to your friends and family ‘you must read this, it’s a classic’.  This is what the Orange prize for fiction wants to tap into when it launches Inheritance Classics next week. By asking 100 people to  name one book they would pass on to the next generation they are aiming to show that personal, word of mouth recommendations are one of the most effective ways to encourage others to read books.  Do come up and look at the classics section in our library which includes young people’s classics such as Swallows and Amazons, Charlotte’s Web and Watership Down as well as more weighty works by Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte and Alexandre Dumas who wrote The Three Muskateers.  In the meantime, we would love to hear what your all time personal classics are.

Launched on World Book Day the Guardian Children’s Book website is a great new resource for book lovers everywhere.  Log on to join in online discussions such as ‘Do film adaptations ruin books for you?’ or ‘Which 50 books should be on a school reading list?’   The website’s content is constantly changing, but at the time of going to press there is an interview posted with Charlie Higson, a podcast of David Tennant reading ‘My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece’ and a roundup of the latest writing competitions.  Fans of Patrick Ness who wrote the brilliant Chaos Walking Trilogy can also email questions for the author to answer; and if you want a book recommendation take a look at The Book Doctor.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site