Oooh! A thread after my own heart!

I started reading children's literature again, with Harry Potter, and I haven't looked back.(Personal fav. is "The Prisoner of Azkiban...hope they do it well with the film, though I haven't been overimpressed yet with the first two, fun as they were.) I liked Pullman a great deal, though I wasn't fond of the second book compared to the first and third. He is complicated, but I appreciated that, and would have adored reading him as a child.

I remember my all-time favorite book (and still may well be) is called "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeline L'Engle, which if isn't on your list, really should be.

And more recently, for those of you who like this stuff, and I'm now addicted...Garth Nix's books "Sabriel" and "Lirael", and the newest due out in April(here in England)-"Abhorsen", are wonderful.
Also, these two authors have come into my stacks this year, books by Peter Dickinson, and Robin McKinley.

And though not strickly for children, unless they are as precocious as I was....books by Sheri S Tepper. She is known, if you can stand the terms they use to pidgeonhole writers-as a Science Fiction/Fantasy/Feminist Writer! Whew! Ignore all that and grab either "Tree of Man" or "The Fresco" or "Grass" to start with and decide for yourself!

Back to why there are name changes for Pullman's books. A lot of times this is a publisher thing. Often it's because they decide that the American Market will relate better to a different sounding title, like with "Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone" over here in Britain, and the "Sorcerer's Stone" in the States. Go figure....e