On the day the winners of the Scottish Children's Book Awards were revealed, here's a look at some of the most influential children's authors of the 21st century - and the books that made them.

Ballet Shoes, Noel Streatfeild

"It might have all the same; you never can tell what's magic."

She is renowned for penning some of the hardest-hitting children's books in the last 20 years, weaving death, divorce and heartache into each of her tales.

It may be strange to think her favourite children's book then takes place in the world of a privileged family who attend stage school - but Wilson admits "I felt as if I was I were the fourth Fossil sister as I read my way through the book."

Mary Poppins, PL Travers

"There was something strange and extraordinary about her – something that was frightening and at the same time most exciting."

Gaiman has no issue name dropping when it comes to mentioning his favourite authors (and his favourite author friends). Lemony Snicket, who he "trusts implicitly" recommended he read The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt, which is his favourite audio book.

But when asked by the New York Times, which book had the greatest impact on him, he reached for the author of the beloved English nanny, who "made me want to tell stories like that. Ones that seemed like they had existed forever."

Emma, Jane Austen

"The real evils, indeed, of Emma’s situation were the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself."

Unlike Rowling, Jane Austen waited years for recognition after publishing her early works anonymously. As with Virginia Woolf, the Harry Potter author appreciates Austen's work for her superior writing skills.

Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson

"This is where you can find your soul, if you dare. Where you can touch that part of you you've never dared look at before."

Anyone who has watched John Green's vlog will know he's a man of a multitude of words - so getting him to narrow his favourite coming-of-age books to six was quite a feat.

As well as Speak, he cites The Blood of the Lamb by Peter de Vries and The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by MT Anderson as excellent reads.

Just William, Richmal Crompton

"William: You'd look better with your hair chopped off. Reggie: You'd look better with your face chopped off." (William's Happy Days)

Terry Pratchett brought joy to children and adults alike before his death in 2015 - eight years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

In an exhibition for The Story Museum, Pratchett joined children's authors including Neil Gaiman and Malorie Blackman in dressing up as their favourite characters from fiction - you can see him in his Just William costume here.

Watership Down, Richard Adams

"Many human beings say that they enjoy the winter, but what they really enjoy is feeling proof against it."

Julia Donaldson spent her childhood making up imaginary characters with her sister Mary and her cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise).

On becoming a children's author, Donaldson said: "Somehow I’ve ended up doing what I wanted to do when I was five years old. I have a theory that this happens to quite a lot of people."

Prince Caspian, CS Lewis

"Wouldn't it be dreadful if some day in our own world, at home, men start going wild inside, like the animals here, and still look like men, so that you'd never know which were which."

The Irish author who created the die-hard fairy taskforce in the Artemis Fowl series has been hailed as the best thing since JK Rowling.

It perhaps comes as no surprise his favourite children's books include tales of lore, fantastic creates and portals to far-flung lands - but he also has a fondness for classic American literature in Mark Twain and Harper Lee.

The Maypole, Geraldine McCaughrean

"The world is hollow. It's a lot to take in. Like cracking an egg and finding nothing inside. Or a full grown elephant." (Geraldine McCaughrean, The White Darkness)

Although not McCaughrean's most famous book, The Maypole affected Anne Fine profoundly when she discovered her work over two decades ago.

In an interview with The Guardian, Fine said: " I don't know quite what her gift is, except for perfect pitch and literary courage."

The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett

"It made her think that it was curious how much nicer a person looked when he smiled. She had not thought of it before."

Having held the position of Children's Laureate from 2013 to 2015, Malorie Blackman admits she "instinctively felt the power and value of stories" from a very young age.

[On Burnett's Victorian coming-of-age tale](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10062174/Malorie-Blackman-on-her-favourite-childrens-book s.html), she said: "Mary Lennox is one of the few obnoxious, non-comic heroines in children’s fiction. Mary has an arrogance which makes her slightly repellent but the author’s skill was such that she still made me care about Mary and what happened to her. It taught me that it’s never too late to remake yourself into someone better."

The Complete Fairy Tales, The Brothers Grimm

"Skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony."

As far as literary characters go, Pullman has been known to select Long John Silver from Treasure Island among his favourite protagonists.

But the Robert Louis Stevenson novel doesn't actually feature in his top 40 books, compiled for the Oxford Mail. The eclectic list features children's novels, funny tales, poetry and books that are out of print.

Great Expectations, Charles Dickens

"In the little world in which children have their existence, whosoever brings them up, there is nothing so finely perceived and so finely felt as injustice."

Horowitz credits his high school English teachers for finding the writer in him - had they not sensed his literary prowess, the author and screenwriter asserts he would most likely be unemployed.

The Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan

"What God says is best, is best, though all the men in the world are against it."

In an absence of children's books while she was growing up, Hedderwick avidly read Bunyan's Christian allegory - although she admits she was largely drawn to it because of the engravings.