Children's books work two kinds of magic. The first is when you experience them as a child. The second is when, as an adult, you read the same books to children. It's a doorway back in time; back to childhood.

This might explain why so many of the top 10 children's books on the list of favourites announced this week are so old - they've had time to filter through the generations. Seven of the top 10 were published between 1865 and 1950. Only three could be considered modern: The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson, published in 1999, The BFG by Roald Dahl (1982) and Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince, which came out three years ago.

The Top 20, compiled by the Booktrust after polling 4000 people, is as follows: 1. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, C S Lewis.

2. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle.

3. The Famous Five, Enid Blyton.

4. Winnie the Pooh, A A Milne.

5. The BFG, Roald Dahl.

6. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, J K Rowling.

7. The Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton.

8. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame.

9. Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll.

10. The Gruffalo, Julia Donaldson.

11. The Tales of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter.

12. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl.

13. Matilda, Roald Dahl.

14. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett.

15. The Cat in the Hat, Dr Seuss.

16. The Twits, Roald Dahl.

17. Mr Men, Roger Hargreaves.

18. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens.

19. The Malory Towers series, Enid Blyton.

20. Peter Pan, J M Barrie.

The success of the book lurking at number six is well known, of course, but Julia Donaldson at number 10 is a remarkable success. Donaldson, who lives and works in Glasgow, created a monster with terrible tusks and terrible claws and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws that has become a cult as big as anything that Roald Dahl or Enid Blyton dreamed up. Donaldson has four titles in the complete list of the top 50: The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo's Child, Room on the Broom and The Snail and the Whale.

There are a few authors who appear several times on the list - Enid Blyton being one of them, of course. Good on you, Enid. Her most popular series is still the Famous Five, followed by the fabulously antediluvian Malory Towers (ask any woman in their thirties or forties and you'll understand).

One last thing, though. Have you noticed the ones that aren't on the list? The ones that aren't there but should be? Thomas the Tank Engine, for a start - the way that smiley train created by the Rev W V Awdry exerts control over every single boy of four and five years old is astonishing.

The Secret Seven series, too, is surely a sad exclusion. If I remember rightly, they met in a shed, one of the seven was a mongrel dog - and they didn't go to boarding school so they always seemed a little more egalitarian than the more famous Famous Five.

And finally, why is The Phoenix and the Carpet by E Nesbit not on the list? Nesbit's other book, The Railway Children, is there - but, unlike everyone else, I just never got that one. The Phoenix and the Carpet, on the other hand, was utterly magical and thrilling.

I wanted to be one of those children. Still do, a bit.

But, of course, it's no surprise that some of my favourite books aren't on the list: my list, like your list, would be different to the one published by the Booktrust - and that's the point. Children's books are personal things - punctuation marks in childhood; memories and experiences that become intertwined with who we are. And the only responsibility we have is to pass all of that on to the generation that follows.

m.smith@theherald.co.uk