Potter loses out to Narnia, others

London, Feb 22 (UNI) J K Rowling's Harry Potter series has lost to a host of traditional classics, like Narnia and the Famous Five series, in a poll of the best children's books of all time.

The poll was conducted among 4,000 parents, most believing in the superiority of the books they enjoyed as children over modern stories, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, the most famous in the Narnia collection by CS Lewis, was the topmost book. It was first published in 1950.

In second place was the picture book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle which is said to have sold an average of one copy every minute since it was first published in 1960.

Enid Blyton's Famous Five series, first written in 1942, came third in the poll, Winnie the Pooh by A A Milne was fourth and The BFG by Roald Dahl was fifth.

The results are a surprise because the last four Harry Potter stories were the fastest-selling books in history.

The only one of Harry Potter books on the list-- Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince-- came in at sixth position.

The survey was carried out by Booktrust, an independent charity set up in 1921 to encourage people of all ages to read.

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