You might want to find a presentation from Dr. Reis on talented readers. I'm looking for one I remember - until then here is some info. In short in the presentation I saw - she said talented readers should - need - to be reading slightly above their level NOT below to develop comprehension etc. When the case we are so used to hearing is no - read Junie B in second even though you read it in pre-school - to develop more reading related skills. Arm yourself with some research. Can't promise it will help - but in the right teacher's hands... maybe.
From Dr. Sally Reis' et all work on Talented Readers:
Needs of Talented Readers
Researchers who have examined practices for talented readers agree that regular reading instruction is often too easy for talented readers (Collins & Aiex, 1995; Dole & Adams, 1983; Reis & Renzulli, 1989; Shrenker, 1997) and that talented readers need different reading instruction. The appropriate match between a learner's abilities and the difficulty of the instructional work must be sought, and the optimal match should be instruction that is slightly above the learner's current level of functioning. As Chall and Conrad (1991) state, when the match is optimal, learning is enhanced; however, "if the match is not optimal [i.e., the match is below or above the child's level of understanding and knowledge], learning is less efficient and development may be halted" (p. 19).
Talented readers have responded well to
high interest literature geared toward the students' reading levels rather than age (Renzulli, 1977),
instruction geared toward the students' strengths (Renzulli & Reis, 1985; 1997)
focus on developing higher level comprehension skills (Collins & Kortner, 1995)
use of higher level questioning and opportunities to incorporate prior knowledge in reading experiences
book discussions can also provide talented readers with the opportunity to interact with intellectual peers and to discuss their ideas in greater depth
reading conferences facilitated by a teacher and focused on themes and ideas rather than on facts and plot summaries (Halsted, 1990).
Unfortunately, using textbooks, basal readers, or even self-selected reading material that may be several years below students' reading level may create both halted development as well as motivational problems for talented readers. Some of your most talented readers may have learned to be lazy readers and may not react well to your attempts to challenge them to read at higher levels. The emphasis in school, however, must be on finding books that challenge and help talented readers to make continuous progress.
http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/semr/using%20bookmarks.html
