"The importance of the grandparent shows itself in literature as well as in life. Grandparents often play a psychologically crucial role in families: a benevolent force, a source of wisdom, an extra pair of hands. They provide love and guidance to children in their early years and are often a refuge later on when teenagers are more likely to get locked in battle with their parents. Grandparents can give perspective, can direct, advise and can mentor in ways that busy parents are not always ready or able to do. But grandparenthood has its sorrows and challenges too: the ageing process, nostalgia for their own children's babyhood, and sometimes having little say in decisions relating to the lives of their grandchildren – these are realities that can cast shadows on the soft focused images we sometimes have. The books on my list include some for very small children as well as novels for young adults. All of them tell us something important about the role of the grandparent or great grandparent in the lives of families."

Sarah Moore Fitzgerald's debut novel Back to Blackbrick, which features a boy, Cosmo, who lives with his grandparents, was published in February by Orion. An academic and associate vice president at the University of Limerick by day, Sarah writes novels late at night under cover of darkness.

1. The Dancing Tiger by Malachy Doyle, with illustrations by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher

This is one of my very favourite picture books with enchanting, gentle illustrations and beautiful words in verse telling of the wonder of imagination and the circle of life. The great grandmother in this story brings a message that resonates to her little great grand child about handing magic down through the generations. Heartwarming stuff and a read-aloud delight.

Once the image of Charlie's four grandparents huddled in the same bed has been planted in one's head, somehow it's there for good. A lovely depiction of the bond between grandfather and grandson and their shared, surreal adventure.

One of the classic depictions of a grandparent appears in this much-loved book. Tear-jerking lessons about the transformational power of love, and of how even the most crotchety grump of a gramp can be putty in his granddaughter's hands.

Before you say anything, I do know that this fictional character has been unmercifully mocked over the many years since the novel was published. But no matter, because my mother read me this story before I became a hardened cynic, and to me he'll always be the irrepressibly optimistic boy whose faith in human nature created a self-fulfilling prophecy of positively redemptive proportions. "Just lean on me Grandfather, I'll walk very slowly." Come on - he was a very good boy and his grandfather turned out lovely in the end.

Bruno's paternal grandmother cuts an affectionate and eccentric figure in John Boyne's first and most harrowing novel. I love the way that through Bruno's eyes we see her feigning a reluctance to sing at parties followed by the speedy delivery of heartfelt performances. The story underlines the complexity of family ties, and the way in which grandparents can feel disempowered when it comes to decisions about the lives of their grandchildren.

6. The Grandma Book and The Grandpa Book by Todd Parr

Todd Parr writes and illustrates simple, witty, unpatronising picture books for very young children. The grandma and the grandpa books are both fine examples of his quirky entertaining style.

Makes the grade purely because of its ubiquity and resilience as a classic tale, though I hasten to add that modern day grandmothers don't at all tally with the frilly-bonnetted, timid, bedridden archetype depicted in this story (not to mention her hairy, fanged impersonator).

OK, I know this is a big cheat, but the Aged P in this much loved classic, while not strictly a grandparent, makes my list on the grounds of being a very old parent, and also because my own grandmother often used that moniker to describe herself. In any case, Aged P is one of Dickens's many brilliant albeit sentimental inventions portraying old age with great affection - hardly surprising given Aged P's deaf, low-maintenance, benign persona. "Nod away at him Mr Pip, nod away at him: that's what he likes."

There's lots in this brilliantly told story, including the very unlucky Stanley Yelnats's "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing" great great grandfather, along with entertaining and clever lessons about character, karma and family curses.

10. Northern Borders by Howard Frank Mosher

This exquisitely written memoir is more a series of short stories, but no less engaging for that. It describes the formative years of a boy raised by his grandparents in a vast old house in the remote backwoods of Northern Vermont. A finely-drawn cast of characters, beautiful observations through the eyes of a child, and wonderful descriptions of both landscape and memorable moments, with the love of a curmudgeonly grandfather and quirky grandmother as a constant and often comic backdrop.