Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Mother daughter book club book?

I would like to read a book with my daughter and do a sort of "book club" with her. She is eight years old and reads at about a late third grade level. Any suggestions for a book that would be appropriate for an eight year old yet still hold the interest of an adult reader?

I wanted to say I started reading the Babysitter's Club books around that age. She might like those, and it might be nostalgic for you, heh.

Start with the Newbery Award winners and honor books. I've been working my way through a good number of them myself recently. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats on NIMH, From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil..., A Door in the Wall, the books by Avi, and Number the Stars (beware on this last one for sensitivities) are ones I've (re)read myself lately and greatly enjoyed.

There are such great books out there that adults like also. One we read was Poppy, where we had some interesting discussions. We had a group mother daughter club at that age.

We read "The Red Tent" together last summer and I plan for us to read "The Joy Luck Club" this year. They deal with older girl "women's" issues so not good for a third grader. But, we had a great time and cooked Mediterranean food and other things.

I read the books my DD picks for book reports. This quarter, she read Awakening the Sleeping Tiger (http://www.amazon.com/Awakening-Sleeping-Tiger-Professional-Chinese/dp/0982826206/ ), which was a great adult read and generally kid-appropriate. (No sex, no profanity, no gratuitous or graphic violence, but the first part is set during the Cultural Revolution, so bad stuff does happen. Because the author was relatively naive, there weren't too many things that went over DD's head due to maturity / life experience issues.)

I have no clue what reading level it would be, though.

We read "The Green Glass Sea" when our kids were 10/11 yo. The main character is a young girl with a strong interest in science/engineering, living in Los Alamos at the time of the Manhattan project. We thought it was excellent - but it does, as you can imagine, take on some serious issues so I would take a look yourself to decide whether it is age-appropriate.

Amylou, that sounds interesting. Yeah, my daughter had trouble with those subjects until she was around 13. Now, she can handle anything.

So glad you are starting this. We have really enjoyed it.

Little House in the Big Woods, The Tale of Despereaux, Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Fantastic Mr. Fox

Island of the Blue Dolphins has some interesting parts to it - to discuss. You can even visit the National Park related to it - or at least its website.

What a great idea! I think I may try this with my own dds I don't have any suggestions for books, but one thing you might do is think back to what books *you* loved when you were the same age. I think when I was around 2nd-3rd grade I loved the Marguerite Henry books, The Black Stallion, Little House on the Prairie etc - it was more about the stories than having a challenging reading level for me at that point. None of those are all that interesting from an adult point of view, but I wouldn't mind re-reading them to relive my childhood fun!

polarbear

ps - I did think of another idea - my ds loved loved loved the Guardian of GaHoole and Warrior series... I never had time to read them when he was into them but they would be two series I'd consider reading with my dds just because I am interested in reading them - from my ds' descriptions they sound great! Lemony Snicket might be another, and easier, read.

eta - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was another one of my childhood favorites.