Are children’s books really the new rock and roll? Can 2002 carry on where 2001 left off? A taster of spring fiction titles suggests that it can - and in style.

New teachers will want to expand their knowledge of children’s authors beyond Rowling and Tolkien, not just to coax students out of a movie-driven mindset, but because children’s books are where it’s buzzing. Whether the buzz is created by satisfied readers or efficient marketing is another matter.

First, a quick look back at the talked-about books of the past year. Puffin’s well-heeled marketing machine achieved saturation coverage for Artemis Fowl (soon in paperback, pound;4.99) the first book in a comic fantasy adventure series. And the campaign paid off. Not only has the book sold well (in excess of 150,000) but author Eoin Colfer, a former primary teacher from Co Wexford, has found himself shortlisted for the Whitbread Children’s Book Award, although some critics preferred his earlier novel, The Wish List. (O’Brien Press, pound;4.99). Watch out for Puffin’s next mega-campaign, to promote Time Stops for No Mouse by Michael Hoeye, a book first self-published in the US and due to arrive in the UK later this spring.

August saw a spate of cleverly orchestrated, hot-headed media reaction to Lady, My Life As A Bitch (Andersen Press, pound;10.99) by Melvin Burgess. Money and sex (Louise Rennison’s six-figure US deal for Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging (Piccadilly Press, pound;4.99) the imagined content of Burgess’s book, and its sequels, including It’s OK, I’m Wearing Really Big Knickers) are obvious enough hooks upon which to hang a promotional campaign - witness the depressingly instant press attention for Macmillan’s announcement of a teenage novel about a lesbian relationship to be written by Julie Burchill.

Other kinds of book require more devious marketing. Pure Dead Magic (Doubleday, pound;10.99), the first novel by Debi Gliori, previously known just for her picture books, was heralded with a teasing shower of purple stars that littered reviewers’ and editors’ desks for weeks, and then eventually appeared as a purple, velvet-coated hardback. Its sequel, Pure Dead Wicked, will be dressed in red velvet.

Encouragingly, some titles managed to short-circuit the marketing and publicity departments. Journey To The River Sea (Macmillan, pound;10.99) by Eva Ibbotson found its way on to many an award shortlist because of the sheer quality of writing and storytelling. Along with Colfer, Ibbotson is a Whitbread contender. She won a Smarties Gold Award and narrowly missed out to Kevin Crossley-Holland in the Guardian Fiction Award. It will be a shock if she does not also make the Carnegie shortlist this summer.

There are other books, often ignored by the awards panels, sometimes even disapproved of by librarians and teachers, that build up a grass-roots cult following. The best current example is Darren Shan’s vampire series, launched by Collins Children’s Books with some flamboyance - and a tarantula - in 1999, and has since been left largely in the author’s very capable self-publicising hands. Shan’s somewhat crude but evidently effective website www.shanville.co.uk and his monthly e-mail newsletter have been crucial in building his fan base.

Oxford University Press has tried to use a website (www.oup.co.ukoxedchildrencoldtom) and an advertising campaign to generate a buzz about Cold Tom, a first novel by Sally Prue (Oxford pound;6.99). More small stars, this time silver, fell out of reviewers’ advance copies, which were adorned with recommending quotes from, among others, Michael Morpurgo. A first novel by an unknown author needs to be either very good or very distinctive to warrant such showy overture.

Three first novels more likely to create a stir in the early part of 2002 are Feather Boy (Collins pound;4.99) by Nicky Singer - reviewed today in Friday magazine, page 20 - a brilliantly constructed, creepily psychological study of a bully’s victim who finds himself under the spell of an old woman and a derelict building; Martyn Pig by Kevin Brooks (Chicken House pound;11.99) is a murder mystery in which we know right from the beginning whodunnit, but we’re compelled to keep reading by the distinctive narrative voice and then mightily surprised by an unexpected twist at the end; and Molly Moon’s Incredible Book of Hypnotism (for readers of eight and above), by Georgia Bing (Macmillan pound;12.99) is a story about an orphan who discovers magic powers. A lot of movie interest is reported with regard to this book. Surprise, surprise.

New work by the current Children’s Laureate is also bound to command attention. In Up On Cloud Nine (Doubleday, pound;10.99), Anne Fine’s latest novel for older readers, Stolly, the eccentric hazard-prone hero, spends the whole book semi-comatose. But he is magnificently evoked for us through a series of recollections and bedside musings of his best friend, Ian.

Certain to follow Journey to the River Sea and win a following on merit alone is Thursday’s Child by Sonya Hartnett, an Australian author who is widely admired, although previously unpublished in the UK. If there’s a better book in 2002 than this extremely accomplished depiction of an impoverished rural childhood set during the inter-war years of the Australian Depression, this will certainly be a knockout year.

Michael Thorn is deputy head of Hawkes Farm primary school, Hailsham, East Sussex