More fantasy books written for children

I bought the second Harry Potter at the grocery store and now I'm listening to the third one when I drive (it's way better on tape I think, the guy who reads it is fantastic.) I was talking to some kids here about it and they all got really excited amongst themselves, and one ran into his room and came back with three books that are another Harry Potter-like series (but better written), His Dark Materials, by Phillip Pullman. The kids in Little Rock are obsessed with them, they told me I wouldn't be able to stop reading until I'd finished all three.

They're based on Paradise Lost and the plot is essentially Kids vs. God. It's pretty dark. People die. I'm halfway through The Golden Compass, which is the first one in the series, and I can't say I'm that impressed yet, but it's full of nice animals like marmosets and basilisks who comprise people's familiars... The first one takes place in a fantasy world, the second in the real world, and the third somewhere between the two, according to the intro page. They're making a movie out of it, directed by the guy who did About a Boy.