I just got the coolest assignment ever in my grad school career. For my children's book publishing class, our semester project is to pick a book that would be considered a "classic" and pretend that we're the editor in charge of publishing it now, in 2004. We're talking the whole caboodle--editorial suggestions (for those parts of the book that have just bugged you all these years), book design (paper, typography, illustration), cover art and design (including picking an artist), marketing plan, etc. Our last two classes will be our "sales meeting," at which we each make a case for our books.
So, would Wizard of Earthsea get published now? How about The Hero and the Crown or Beauty? I could probably do more with LeGuin, but I'm partial to McKinley as an author. I already signed up for LeGuin, though, so I may or may not switch.
If you could do this with a favorite of yours, what would you pick? Ground rules: pre-1985 pub. date.