Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Sorry! Another post on book suggestions

Hi all,

My PG dd6, can read pretty much anything but we're struggling to find books with content she is comfortable with. She went through a phase of loving thing like the Harry Potter and Septimus Heap series', but is currently mid-existential crisis (she enters this phases every now and again) and is very uncomfortable with anything to do with death, blood or illness. As a result I am REALLY struggling to find anything for her to read that she can really get in to. The high fantasy books are too unconfortable at the moment, the books about social stuff seem to be pitched either too high (with strong romance or some sexual references)or too low ('you're not invited to my party', 'oh no, what will I do?!'). She's done with the Judy Moody/Clarice Bean kinds of books. She was getting in to some classics - the Secret Garden and so on, but so many of them have sickly characters or dying parents and now she's suspicious of them all. I thought some non-fiction might work, but she's just not a 'fact' kind of kid.

I'm not sure what's left! Any tips?

My son loves the Percy Jackson series. it involves fantasy and Greek mythology. it doesn't seem to be too violent. what about The Boxcar Children series? there are like 54 or more of them.

It's hard to find books at a high reading level which avoid any mention of death, blood or illness at all. How about "The Wind in the Willows"? Ugh, I guess that has the Death-or-Glory Toads in it and other references to violence. I guess my feeling is that this issue will sort itself out; she'll adapt. In the meantime I'd let her read whatever she wants to read, which might be nothing for a short while until her crisis sorts itself out.

How about going for humour? E.g. my DS loves (and has done for some years) the Professor Branestawm books, e.g. this one (not sure if you can get them where you are; I've been buying most second-hand as there used to be a whole series but many are out of print). There must be other good humorous series but nothing is coming to mind right now... The Cressida Cowell dragon series is not without fighting, but it's handled in a way that might be acceptable - there's some suspense but no gore and I don't remember any character dying.

Also there must surely be *some* kind of non-fiction she'd like... maybe it might be worth you saying something about what she's interested in?

I'd second idea that she should read whatever she fancies and that it's fine if that's nothing, or only books way below her reading level, for a bit, too.

Have a look at the Edward Eager books, and maybe E. Nesbit. Also Dick King-Smith. Those were great for my risk-averse DS at that age.

DeeDee

DD's favorite series in grade 1 was The Penderwicks--that might work. Try Elizabeth Enright also. In general, you might want to look at older books. What's her reading level? If it's very high, Anne of Green Gables (these are hard, though--like 7th or 8th grade level; DD8 isn't quite ready for them).

The Moffats is a nice series--a bit dated and slow, perhaps. The Betsy-Tacy books are ancient but surprisingly evergreen. Beverly Cleary's books are about young children but written at a surprisingly high level. DD has been reading and rereading them since age 5 and doesn't seem to be tired of them yet.

If your daughter likes fantasy/adventure, these are a little gentler. You might still want to read them in advance but most of these still hold up for adults. This type of book always has a lot of conflict, but I think these are less frightening than some others. My DD9 is also very sensitive but she has been able to handle these.

The Name of This Book is Secret (Series) - Pseudonymous Bosch (Have to admit I haven't read it, but DD liked it.)

The Chronicles of Prydain (Series)- Lloyd Alexander (Maybe a little scary but also has humor)

The Dark is Rising (Series)- Susan Cooper

The Chronicles of Narnia- C.S Lewis (unless you think she would be upset when
Aslan dies even though he does come back to life)

Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Series)- Rick Riordan (Poster above mentioned this. I agree! These are really fun books.)

Other gentler books my kids have enjoyed. . .

The Borrowers- Mary Norton

Pippi Longstocking- Astrid Lindgren

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle- Betty MacDonald (Easy reading, but it's funny and nothing traumatic happens)

Caddie Woodlawn- Carol Ryrie Brink

From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler- E.L. Konigsburg

I would definitely avoid all the classic books in which animals die. Where the Red Fern Grows, Sounder, Old Yeller, The Yearling, etc. If your DD is sensitive, these would be devastating to read right not. Great stories for another time, though.

This post is getting too long. That's what happens when you ask a book lover . . .

Good luck!

Has she read the Little House on the Prairie series, or any of the American Girl franchise stuff? DD liked that for awhile, as well as the Magic Treehouse series (which is also semi-educational). One of my all-time favorites is the Phantom Tollbooth that I think works on a bunch of levels so if she doesn't get all of it yet she might still like it.

If she likes non-fiction, she might like "The History of US" series about US history. We just got it recently and it's really fun--more like a series of relevant /anecdotes told in a very engaging way. Also a lot of the "Books for Dummies" are actually pretty accessible if the topic is of interest.

I agree some of the fiction is really pretty extreme--DD has gone through the Warriors series (which her *classroom* had!) and I found it quite violent (cats loving and hating other cats and sometimes arranging their demises or going to war). Fortunately she didn't seem to get bothered by that kind of thing too much (because I didn't even realize they had books like that in her classroom), because then she actually picked up the Hunger Games (which DH had bought for himself to read) and has now read all three books. That's the first time she's picked up one of our books and it kind of surprised us--we almost asked her to stop reading it. She will definitely not be seeing the movie for at least a number of years. However, now of course she has gotten in trouble for talking about it at school, in the same classroom that introduced her to the Warriors.

I did start out by trying to pre-read, or at least pre-screen, but I don't have enough time to keep ahead.
Unfortunately a lot of the humor fiction can be pretty disrespectful--Big Nate, Dork Diaries have been fun but probably not the best thing for a kid with social issues, so I have tried to steer her towards other things.

I'm hoping that our DD doesn't get permanently scarred by any of the inappropriate books and that when she gets older she will appreciate that I was *trying* to be a good parent. If I had to pre-screen everything and only let her read what I thought was totally appropriate, I think she would go crazy from boredom.

Good luck!

Does she like horses? How about horse stories? You'd have to research each title as horse stories sometimes end in some sort of tragedy and I can't recall which do and don't.

Marguerite Henry wrote: Misty of Chincoteague and also San Domingo, Medicine Hat Stallion, Stormy, Misty's foal, Brighty of the Grand Canyon. My Friend Flicka, different author, has a good ending. There are probably a lot of more recent ones that are equally good or better, but at least books published 50 years ago or more tend to have reasonable content.

Polly