Harry Potter has been credited with many things – not always accurately. Turning kids onto reading and/or the Dark Arts, adding “muggle” to the lexicon, a rise in broom related injuries –  The Boy Who Lived is responsible for a lot of pop culture phenomena of the past decade.

Now I’ll come clean here and say that my family are massive fans of both the books and films. While we resist other child-targeted marketing with the jaded cynicism of Gen Xers who came of age to the tune of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, both my husband and I were as entranced by Harry as our kids are. And my favourite Potter legacy is that reading kids literature can be cool for adults as well.

So here are my favourite kids’ books that adults can enjoy:

The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)- along with its follow up Catching Fire, The Hunger Games was a cracking read, with romance, action and suspense. I’m waiting with baited breath for the final instalment next year. At 11 my daughter is perhaps a little young for some of the themes, but I know she will find a wonderful heroine in Katniss when she is a little older.

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events – I started the first in this series with my daughter 3 years ago. We have slowly made our way through all thirteen in the trials and tribulations of the Baudelaire orphans, and are feeling a little crestfallen now we have finished. While I delighted in the word play and literary and cultural allusions, she loved the dark nature of the stories and the cliff-hanger endings.

The Graveyard Book (Neil Gaiman) – The Jungle Book with ghosts! Beautifully written fantasy, this will be my holiday reading with my daughter. I’m sure she’ll love it as much as I did.

The Phantom Tollbooth (Norton Juster) – I read this with my 9 year old son last year. I adored this book as a child, and was hoping that it would stand up to an adult re-reading. Oh yes – this geeky gal loved the puns and plays on words. Maths Boy particularly loved the Digitopolis scenes, with the number humour. Yes, we are a nerdy bunch.

Artemis Fowl (Eoin Colfer)- Oh is my little tech-head boy going to love these. I’ve read the first one and have the next three lined up in my “To Be Read” pile. Boy and I just started the first one last night – he can’t wait to get to the farting dwarf. Typical.

The Complete Winnie the Pooh (AA Milne) – That Pooh Bear was a clever fellow, and I’ve tried to live by many of his words: “We can’t all, and some of us don’t. That’s all there is to it.” And (one for Susan) “It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like “What about lunch?””

What kids books do you love?