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.

The American Library Association (ALA) offers lists of banned and challenged books... those books which individuals and/or groups have sought to have removed from school curricula and/or from collections at public libraries.

Wikipedia has a summary article with a List of most commonly challenged books in the United States and links to ALA resources from which much of the article was derived.

Gifted children may be interested in the thought-provoking content of some of these books; Parents may wish to pre-screen.

One title of interest may be The Giver as the memories, "seeing beyond", and deep understanding developed by the character Jonas may in some ways parallel the gifted experience... and the resultant social rift between the gifted and typical age-mates, who simply do not share the knowledge base and therefore may be unable to relate to certain experiences and/or viewpoints.

Captain Underpants was the #1 most-challenged library book in 2012? And it was banned in some schools? I mean, okay, those books aren't exactly War and Peace, but...they never claimed to be.

Some people really, truly, have too few real problems to deal with.

If you liked Guns, Germs and Steel (and I agree it is absolutely fascinating) you may also like Collapse (same author) and Why nations fail (Acemoglu and Robinson). Ever since reading Collapse, I have had a morbid fascination with the Norse of Greenland and the collapse of their colonies...
No idea whether they're available as audiobooks, though. Carry on.

Before signing off, though, it occurs to me that 13 and up is the age for the classics! Old enough to understand love, and fear, and war, in ways that even gifted preteens cannot, not having the emotional range yet for desire, or hate, in ways that really lets you understand these books.

"A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History" by Nicholas Wade (2014) has a different explanation of why countries succeed or fail than these books. It is on my list of books to read.

Thanks, B!

I will be adding that to my baggage for a trip I need to take next week. I applaud the author's courage for daring not to allow questions like these to be swept under the rug given the wealth of scientific evidence that recent genetic research has yielded.

I think Under the Never Sky would work for mature twelve year olds, but it's really better for teens. It used to be one of my favorites.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show...?from_new_nav=true&ac=1&from_search=true

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/under-the-never-sky

Another one, which I just read today, is Death Note Volume One: Boredom. It's a manga, the first in a series, and I'd recommend it fully! If you like that style/format, that is.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Note

Jon, Flora, and the Odd-eyed Cat might be hard to find, but if you can get a copy, I'd recommend it. It might even work for mature eleven or twelve year olds, but I was kind of confused with the magical realism when I read it at that age, so I feel like it's slightly better for teens.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show...?from_new_nav=true&ac=1&from_search=true

Paperboy by Vince Vawter is getting a lot of attention in my family.

The Witch and Wizard series is good...for the first few books. After a certain point, they were just unnecessary, but the original, especially, is enjoyable.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_%26_Wizard

Adding a link to this thread: Books for 13 yr old

Adding a link to this thread: Quiet/introversion book for kids/teens

Adding a link to this thread: FICTION books for teens about underwritten history

Adding a link to this thread: Books That Criticize Societal Norms

Adding a link to this thread: Horror/Scary Media

Adding a link to this thread: Medieval Books

Adding a link to this thread: Books for adults (and those of adult mental age)

I'm about to start reading Human.4; not sure what age group it's for, but the main character is fourteen, and the subject matter seems a little dark and weird, so it's probably a teen book.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8514163-human-4?

Also, there's When I Was Puerto Rican.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_I_was_Puerto_Rican

I want to read My Ántonia, too.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Ántonia

I just finished a book called Roses and Rot, that is about sisterhood and the creative process. It's a very loose retelling of Tam Lin (the ballad). It was good enough that when I finished it, about two hours later I flipped it over and reread the whole thing. Definitely worth reading if you are a creative person. It does have a couple of sex scenes in it, so beware of those if that's not what you want.

1) The Morland Dynasty, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

2) Moloka’i, by Alan Brennert

3) And the Mountains Echoed, by Khaled Hosseini

Adding a link to this thread: Books with Disabled Characters

Adding a book:
"Ghost Squadron: WWII Teenage Pilot" a novel by David Nelson – July 17, 2019

Adding a link to another thread:
Books for Advanced Reader (12 yo)?, in the General Discussion forum.

Adding a book:

"The Gifted School" by Bruce Holsinger, an English professor at the University of Virginia, and author of several books

Amazon link, Hardcover (2019) with "Look inside" feature
Amazon link, Paperback (2020) with "Look inside" feature

Also available through the UVA bookstore - ISBN 978-0-525-53497-6 Paperback

Adding a link to this thread:
Good books? (2009)

Great recommendations, thanks!

Adding a link to this thread: Matching age appropriate content with lexile score (2013)

Sewing Circles of Herat
Christina Lamb
2004

This book may be of interest to wider audiences due to current events.

Wikipedia webpage on the Golden Needle Sewing School, also archived here.

While some may complain bitterly about the perceived differences in parity related to educational opportunities in the USA, this book reveals the true hardships, risks, and oppression faced by those determined to pass along knowledge and to receive knowledge, in some cultures and countries.

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban
Author: Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb
2014

I Am Malala
Author: Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Malala Yousafzai
2015

I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World (Young Readers Edition)
Author: Malala Yousafzai, Patricia McCormick
2016

Summary Guide
Author: Malala Yousafzai & Christina Lamb
2019

This book may be of interest to wider audiences due to current events.

While some may complain bitterly about the perceived differences in parity related to educational opportunities in the USA, this book reveals the true hardships, risks, and oppression faced by targeted demographic populations when they strive for an education, in some cultures and countries.

It is the right time to start reading about racial struggles and understanding the inequality. Ta Nehisi-Coates' Between the World and Me can be a great start that would be unsettling.