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

These kind of things also go into my box of "things that did not help my life at all" and are included in the box of "years of my life that I wish I could get back.""

What a great insight. You are absolutely describing my DD, who has verbally and specifically rejected gender stereotypes since she was tiny. Admittedly, some of this is probably my influence, but I have heard things come out of her mouth that I know for certain she didn't hear from me. Also, she is pining for a Warriors "club" and goes around asking other kids if they read the books. She's desperately trying to get her best male friend into them (no luck--he's a Harry Potter dude).

Now there's a question--is there a difference between Harry Potter kids and Warriors kids, or do they generally overlap? (DD won't read HP, partly due to resistance to the perceived male focus, partly due to fear of them being scary, partly due to being intentionally resistant to things she perceives as very popular. I think she'll eventually cave and will enjoy them, though I will discourage from reading past book 4 till she's a little older.)

I admit, I'm more than slightly wary of the RPG thing. DH and I are completely unfamiliar with that world but my impression is that it can be extremely addictive.

Just for reference, in case anybody thought about trying Goodkind's series, I think the rape/gory death/torture scenes would be much more problematic for the age range under consideration than the politics (and I am currently standing in front of the shelf holding volumes 1-4 of the series).

I got lost on the reading level requirement, but after spending all of last year labeling all the children books in the house by AR/lexile levels it turns out that interest trumps numbers (and that runs both ways). I also probably haven't read a single book at my reading level since I left college, except maybe that book I had to read for an American history class last year. I like to think I am still evolving as a reader.

Strong female protagonists, albeit usually in male-dominated fantasy settings (so that there is a lot about girls proving their value -- your daughter might want something past that?): anything by Tamora Pierce.

In a completely different vein, but sometimes the way to break through a series addiction (and I am a big re-reader, so I understand the pull) is to switch to something completely different, Pratchett's Discworld, starting with the witches books. There is a later sub-sub-thread with a younger witch which might be more appealing to a younger child than the first few Witches books (although the first, Equal Rites, is about a young girl who is told she cannot be a wizard).

Based on my experiences, it sucks up time and provides no benefit.

So, I put it in the same box as computer games and sci-fi/fantasy books.

I am in agreement that it is nothing to worry about. I was Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden obsessed as a kid, yet am very well read now. (I even finished the Proust years ago)

Sometimes I have the same worry about DD8, she did read Rainbow Fairies back when, though she hated Harry Potter this summer. But then finds something like Dear Diary she won't put down. As long as she keeps reading.

Individual results will vary. All things in moderation... including moderation.

For me, those activities sucked up a lot of time during phases of my life where I had a lot of time that already sucked.

Yes, if there's really nothing better to do then you aren't losing anything because there's nothing to lose.

The series I obsessively reread were the L. M. Montgomery books--although they actually are a bit pulpy in bits, they're pretty high quality. I was also not a fantasy or sci-fi kid, though I logged some time with Hitchhiker's Guide (so funny), Susan Cooper (wish I could get DD to read these!) and Tolkien. DH also had no interest in this stuff at all. So DD may be in uncharted territory if this is where her interest goes, although my brother is a huge Tolkien nerd.

She will love Watership Down, I'm 100% sure. But it's dark and sad in places, IIRC. I don't know if she's ready.

I'm so happy that my DS's Warriors phase was short-lived. I read part of the first one, and thought it was pretty good, then we couldn't get the books in order at the library so got maybe the 4th one? And it was just horribly written. I avoided that one at bedtime when we normally read a chapter aloud to DS (though now we've hit the "you read too slowly" phase so he reads to himself).

I've got a great next series for you to try, with a strong female lead, not girly in the least: Leviathan steampunk series by Scott Westerfeld. I started reading that aloud to DS8 when he had stopped reading for a bit, and it got him hooked. He's now finishing Westerfeld's Uglies series, which kids who liked the Hunger Games will probably like. [ETA: These are both YA series, but very tame and not about romance- perhaps one innocent kiss per book.]

ETA: I don't think there's any problem with re-reading books (though I think the only books I've ever re-read were LOTR). But it's kind of fun to seek out new series too. Good luck!