Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Book recommendations: age 13+

Hi everyone - I have been asked to create stickies for threads with lists of book recommendations gathered from member posts for different age ranges (0-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12, 13+). Here is the thread for the 13+ age range.

I am a middle/high school librarian, and the one book I always recommend is Out of my Mind, by Helen Draper. It is a great read for gifted kids as it is about a gifted child trapped in a disabled body. One warning though, neither I or my DD could put it down.

Thanks Mark!

I'll be curating this list (absent a volunteer with more experience with this age range) and have inserted a dropbox link to a list updated June 5.

Question about this book level for everyone? I would find this the hardest to make recommendations because most of the gifted kids by the time they are teen are at a reading level where they can ready almost any fiction on the shelves. The issue really comes down to interest & appropriateness. My recommended reading would honestly be probably a set of favorite fantasy & scifi. Partly because that is what I read at this age.

For example I would highly recommend but I know there are parents that would find this inappropriate.

Good Omens by Terry Pratchet & Neil Gaimen
-- Humor like Hitchhikers Guide but darker and takes a few liberties with stories from the bible.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher.
-- Very good book about teen who commits suicide who sends to 13 people a series of audiotapes explaining why.

bluemagic, the spirit behind the thread is to provide titles that are interesting to a gifted audience, so any books that meet that criterion are good candidates. There will probably end up being a metaphysical/fantastical bent to the list simply because those types of themes are appealing to gifted adolescents. Thanks for the share.

I've uploaded a June 5 list to dropbox, linked in my first post. Thanks to the folks who have contributed suggestions so far!

This may be too quirky, or just driven by our interests, but 14-y.o. dc and I are listening to the audiobook of GUNS, GERMS, and STEEL (Jared Diamond). This is a dense, long book, and the writing, while clear, is not lively. But we are totally absorbed in the narratives, which range worldwide and from prehistory to 1500.

I will say that I think listening to the book is key for us. It gives us a wonderful 30 minutes of intellectual activity that would otherwise be lost in drive time to activities. Dc has been totally involved and pipes in with comments that astonish me.

Anyway, thought I'd share a positive experience. We got the audiobook from the library.

Please add 'Ready Player One'.
- dystopian future
- 'chosen kid'
- mysterious challenging situation he finds himself in
results in a fun review of all that 80's stuff that we all enjoyed at the time, but now take for granted as dorky (Lady Hawke, anyone?)

THINGS FALL APART, Chinua Achebe. Just fantastic!

Please add The Martian, by Andy Weir. I think a 10-year-old could read this, but it has an awful lot of cursing and a little bit of sexual humor. Nevertheless, it is a fabulous book.