I hear you about the love of Kids Lit. I enjoy it more than most "adult" literature I read. There's a youthful sense of transformation in many of them, a sense of wonder and clarity that you don't always find in more mature novels.

I recommend Kenneth Oppel's "Airborn" and its sequel "Skybreaker", both of which are winning awards everywhere ("Airborn" won the Governor General's Award for Children's Literature back in 2004), and it's easy to see why. Swashbuckling adventure with Zeppelins and sky pirates! Really good books to tear through.