Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School books for a 5 y/o Douglas Adams fan

oh, man Ultramarina! i sooo *wish* my parents hadn't given up with me on fiction. as an adult, i feel horribly stunted in that respect and even though i've tried to fill in some of the gaps, i still feel like i don't quite get the rhythm of a lot of literature... mercifully, life is not over yet!

and ha! thanks for reassuring me that i haven't messed up my kid - i didn't mean to sound *quite* so dire! i guess what i mean is that i can almost see a little flow chart in my head about how we got here.

originally, we had a kid who LOVED books and was decoding early, but never once picked up a book on her own and tried to read it herself. that seemed a little weird, but honestly for several years it was no big deal since she was so little. she would beg us to read to her and we did - constantly - according to interests and comprehension.

which... gave us a kid with an adult vocabulary who had no time for the school's learn-to-read books by the time she got to Pre-K. in her mind, reading was for meaning - and, not surprisingly, she found no meaning in school readers! so instead, i asked her to try chapter titles and headlines, shampoo bottles and book blurbs.

which... within months gave us a kid who was destroying chapter books.

which... has given us a kid who is finally excited about the fact that she can read the stuff we used to have to read to her - hence the need for more "meat" to feed this beast (which in no way has to be "adult" literature - just richly imagined, and fun!)

ha - now i'm super-OT on my own post. sorry, all!

back on topic - i meant to mention The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics, which is a fun little book inspired by Flatland (thanks Aquinas)! we got it for DD as a stocking stuffer - and it's been a HUGE hit. highly recommend it for anyone with a mathy kid who likes puns (we heard this a lot over the holiday: "To the vector go the spoils!" /dies laughing)

Ah...so, is it the case that you didn't read a lot of fiction yourself as a child? Or perhaps, even now? Is what you need LOTS and LOTS of great recommendations for non-twaddle kids' books? because they most certainly are out there, in spades. We could recommend, or at best, you should cultivate a relationship with a great librarian.

Beginning readers are the worst. Some of the worst kids' books out there, really, so if that's what she thinks of, no wonder she thinks it's no good.

Are you on Goodreads? Tons of lists there, like Great Fantasy reads for ages 10-13, etc.

Doubtful guest. Try these...

The phantom tollbooth

The number devil

George's secret key to the universe (and two others by Stephen and Lucy Hawking)

ding, ding, ding! yep - i'm super-fussy about fiction, even now.

DD has NO such excuse, though! she's got shelves and shelves of terrific picture books and all the Blytons, Clearys, Dahls, Snickets and Rowlings, etc. it would be sooooo easy to fall into the non-fiction trap with her, too - she would listen for hours on end to us reading books about medicine or space when she was a toddler, but i refuse to let that happen to her.

i'm really hoping this is just a phase where she wants to put as much distance between herself and "new reader" as she can. i'll be vigilant, though - you're right that if i don't want to resign myself to her skipping things, then i really shouldn't! (that is such great advice, seriously!)

My DS5 is sort of over all his lovely picture books, though I'll find him poring through them if we've been too long between library runs. There are certainly some sophisticated picture books out there, but if that no longer appeals, I think that's okay. Do you really feel she has oodles of her own books to choose from? Even with a great in-house selection, nothing beats a shiny load of new library books with enticing covers over here. Both of my kids usually have 30+ out at a time. Mind you, in DD's case, she often does not read them all before we go back, but that's okay. It's the smorgasbord concept.

Both of my kids really like nonfiction too...but if she loved Harry POtter, etc, she doesn't sound like she is one of those who just isn't into fictional worlds. Dare I suggest that your own confessed fussiness might be subconsciously limiting what you offer her? Do you ever just turn her loose in the stacks?

doubtfulguest, I can sympathize. In the last week or so, DD has begun complaining about picture books in general but I'm not ready for her to be over picture books quite yet. We're currently working through Elsa Beskow books and she hasn't complained about those. She's still on a fairytale phase so at least for my DD, if the theme interests her and artwork is good, she's willing to read "short" picture books.

SO and I are having a HP debate right now. He who didn't want DD to read Swimmy when she was 2 (he said the book starts with a massacre and she didn't have to know about food chain just then) thinks I'm being unfair by withholding HP since DD now can clearly distinguish fiction from reality and has no problem processing fairytales which are often just as violent as HP but he's never read HP and that has been the end of our argument thus far. I told him before we can actually discuss it, he had to read the first few books cover to cover.

Right now, my policy is to find children's literature that I would enjoy reading myself. Since I didn't start reading in English until I was 14 (and didn't crack the code until I was 19 thanks to stealth dyslexia), I have never read The Wonderful Wizard of the Oz, C.S. Lewis, or Dahl. I'm on the fence about Neverland for DD so that's on my list of pre-reading list. It's been fun filling my own gaps and DD and I love getting audio recordings of these classics from the library and read along together. I think DD is getting acting tips from the professional actors. I hear her imitating their inflections and accent.

It's so hard to find the right answer for these children but I have to trust my instinct and be willing to override her father who is giving her too much credit for her emotional maturity.

Finally remembered a book we got a bit ago that really has that surrealist banter and flair of Adams: Another Whole Nother Story by Dr. Cuthbert Soup

http://www.amazon.com/Another-Whole-Nother-Story-Quality/dp/B00B2RRNVE

I don't think there is much harm in "skipping" the early readers. They really aren't great literature and are not necessary to learn to read. If she reads as well as my son at 6, it is really unnecessary. In addition the specialist that helped my DD19 (who had LD's) primarily used non fiction. She expected my daughter to always have a fiction book for fun, but for the actual instruction she found non fiction a lot less ambiguous. (My daughter main problem was language processing not decoding.)

After parenting two children, one thing I have learned a bit to do is relax and back off a bit. Forcing a child to read fiction is more apt to turn her off to it at this time.

When the talk turns to great fictional satire, one name that comes immediately to my mind is Carl Hiassen. And I would have kept this entirely to myself except for these words that I never, ever thought I'd type (for those unfamiliar, he uses... er... mature themes): Carl Hiassen has won a Newbery medal.