Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion "stuck" in a book series

No, I mean the one that was mentioned in line 2 of the OP of this thread!

Dude--no no, it's another Seeker series, by the same author as the Warriors series we're discussing.


Well, I do believe you are hitting the nail on the head here, especially with c--DD is ever in search of C, and it's elusive.


*faints dead away*

You might laugh at a conversation we had yesterday in the grocery store parking lot. There was a stray cat, and DD immediately set in to wondering what clan it was in (probably Bloodclan) and its recent doings (she knows she's pretending....I think...mostly). DH and I were cracking ourselves up in the front seat. "Actually, I think it's in Groceryclan. Down the street, of course, we have WalmartClan."

Yeah-- DD has always had a real thing for personification of animals. I blame John Ritter. (Clifford, the Big Red Dog) Well, okay, so "blame" here is probably a little harsh. LOL.

Mistmantle, the Guardians of Gahoole, and the Redwall books (but less so, since again those are somewhat lacking in the powerful female protagonist angle) have also been popular with her at various points.

Watership Down...

The Golden Cat...

Well. You get the idea.


ultramarina, we made up "dirtbag" clan in self-defense at one point.

UM, my ds doesn't re-read, but he gets very into series (he loved the Warriors, btw, eons ago)... and used to get obsessed and think he didn't want to read anything else at all until the next book in the series came out. There are a few other series he enjoyed around the same time he was into the Warriors, but I don't know if they'd work for your dd (Guardians of the Gahoole was one - and I know I didn't spell Gahoole correctly lol!). Anyway, the thing that helped us break ds out of his won't-pick-up-a-different book rut was when he joined a Battle-of-the-Books group at his school and *had* to read from the list of required books. The books weren't as complex or advanced or high-level as he was capable of reading, but they were books that were well-written and interesting for his age level. He would procrastinate starting on each book, but after a few pages was usually hooked.

I wouldn't worry too much about re-reading books - I doubt it does any more "harm" than playing the same game more than once (I don't think it does any harm at all really). I used to be obsessed with horse books when I was in 3rd grade, and I read a bunch that were easy-for-me-to-read as well as reading them over and over again and daydreamed quite a bit about the horses. There are a few other books (novels) I've re-read several times over the years because they were favorites of mine, and I've found something new and different each time I've read them, as well as found it interesting how my take on the stories changes as I get older and have different life experiences under my belt.

And... fwiw... my dd8 is currently obsessed with the Warriors. They are the only books she's checked out of her school library all year. So I'm looking at the responses here with a vested interest in hoping to find something else for my own dd - lol!

polarbear

Actually, I thought I'd mention another bonus of this series. Because it's not written at DD10's reading level, but instead written at a level understandable by any smart 9 year old, she got many of her peers to read the books as well last year. They played Warriors on the playground, and gave her a clear link between her imaginary/reading/g&t world to her world and peers at school.

Kinda going OT here, but it's interesting that most of us here are talking about girls really loving this series, and not boys. As I mentioned, my ds was *really* into it when he read it, and now that my dd8 is reading the series... I help her class during library time... so I get to hang out and see what the kids are reading etc... and she's the only girl in her class who's reading the series... but there are quite a few boys who are also reading them.

Don't know why I find that interesting!

polarbear

I APOLOGIZE FOR THE MISUNDERSTANDING!

Oh, yes-- DD has had several male friends who liked them too. (her current best friend, in fact, is a MG 16yo boy who was pretty much obsessed with them when he was younger, as well)

I think that they just-- among girls, that is-- disproportionately appeal to more androgynous/bright children who tend to reject typical gender stereotype-driven culture. Boys who don't like guns and superhero play, for example, and girls who aren't into pink and codependent princesses, seem to find animal personification a great alternative.

I think it's entirely possible that part of the appeal for female children in this particular context is about the social connection serving as a sort of secret club password. This was a significant means for my DD to establish who was most likely to be "friend" material for her and who wasn't. It still serves that way as a point of shared history, to some extent.

I don't see anything wrong with that, as adults do this sort of social sorting by interests all the time, too. We just automatically connect better with other people who have a shared reference frame and values.

In DD's class, she has been the only girl reading them, but there are quite a few boys into them. I suspect the "Warriors" name may be a turnoff? Although cats are female-identified. Actually, this IS a great series in the sense that it easily can appeal to both genders.

Another interesting sequelae to this kind of interest seems (well, okay-- anecdotally) to be an eventual interest in and participation in RPG gaming during preteen/teen years (and in some cases beyond).

In that case, I think that interest in this book series can serve as an early indicator that kids have that set of interests and innate needs (socially and intellectually).

ALL of my DD's RPG friends (and this is at least a couple dozen kids) were interested in these books to the point of obsession during elementary/middle school, and all of the friends that were so fixated on them back in the day (again, at least a dozen or so of them) are now playing RPG's both regularly and often mutliple platforms/characters. Both genders.

I don't know if there is a real causative connection. But there certainly seems to be a very strong correlation.