Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Need complex fiction suggestions for PG 7yo

If she likes historical fiction, I'd recommend The Agency series by YS Lee. It's about a 17-year-old girl in 1850s London who is a secret spy for an all-female spy agency. It's an excellent book with a strong female lead, with only a hint of romance. The author has a PhD in Victorian literature and culture, so not only is it engrossing, it's also fairly accurate (except for the all female spy agency part). It's targeted for grades 8-12 but I also really enjoyed it.

If you could possibly find a sympathetic children's librarian, it could really help. I hate to suggest a bit of deception, but you might consider going in solo and not mentioning age--just saying "She reads at about this level and she's recently enjoyed these books..." The right librarian would get it, and there definitely are librarians who understand precocious readers, but your DD's precocity is pretty out there, so I don't know.

Also, I do think you should try Dickens. I read Oliver Twist in 5th grade, I think. And there sure is plenty of Dickens. Also, try Jane Eyre. Jack London? Arthur Conan Doyle? Mark Twain? (You would want to be careful with Twain regarding racial issues)

If she likes humor, I also started to love James Thurber's stuff around 5th grade or so. Hmm....what about Steinbeck? Some of it is rather sad/heavy, though. Willa Cather is another suggestion. I would look for reading lists for jr. high/early high school and pull out the classics and then scan the summaries to see if they look appropriate.

My 8 year old has the high school librarian pulling books for him and checking them out to him. She knows him and what he has read and knows the books in her library. The last thing she pulled was the Golden Compass series. The high school has a wide range of books as far as level of books goes.

How this came about is that our school district has the district-wide card catalog all online and connected. DS8 was looking for the next book in a series and his library didn't have it but the catalog showed that the high school had it. My dh works there so he went and talked to her about checking it out in his name (DS could have asked for it to be sent to his school and checked it out through his school but that would have taken a few days and patience isn't his middle name). The librarian at the high school has become one of our best resources.

The elementary school librarian is also very helpful but I think my son exhausts her. She has been willing to break the rules for him. He is required to check out one Spanish book and one English book each week (that is a classroom rule of his Dual Language Program) and they are limited to 2 books per week. She has broken the 2 book rule and allowed him to have more at one time and he is one kid who pretty much has an open pass to go to the library and return books and check out new ones.

I know these PG kids can go rapidly through reading lists and library collections. I've got some suggestions:

1. Have you had a look at Library of Books (http://www.bookslinksandmore.org/) suggestions? She has two PG kids. So there may be something your DS hasn't read yet.
2. Have you tried the following books:
The Giver; Fahrenheit 451; Carry On, Mr. Bowditch (FYI - a number of people die due to life at sea and early 19th century)? Those are rather serious books. Dahl is my favorite for the humor. Terry Deary's Horrible Histories are pretty good though, if you like that humor. Terry Pratchett has a lot of books that might work.
Paulo Coehlo's The Alchemist is a good read too.
3. I recently read Conor Grennan's Little Princes book on orphans in Nepal. It was a very inspiring and moving book, I thought. It's a non-fiction memoir, but it might appeal to your daughter. Of course, she might want to fly off to Nepal after reading it though.

I do have to agree with you on the content and problems over fiction with a PG child reading so ahead. It's rather challenging finding appropriate material in the YA section; there's so much that is inappropriate. I'm relieved my PGlet has turned to non-fiction. That makes it a tad easier.

Thank you all so much. Now I've got a spreadsheet full of suggestions! I'm surprised at the relief I feel at having such a list to draw from - I feel a little less like I am flying blind. I do feel slightly ridiculous to have such a poor knowledge of fiction - we have a house full of books, many of which will stand her in good stead if she's interested in politics, history and philosophy down the track, but perhaps I'll take this chance to share some fiction with her. Thanks again

Skip Memoir of a Geisha. There's at least one part unsuitable for a 7yo (not a bad read for an adult though).

Look for Newberry Award winners, honor books, runners up, etc. Usually the content is complex and the stories are entertaining. Virginia Reader's choice books are another place to look. The American Library Association also grants awards to good books.

If she likes humorous stuff, you might try Robert Asprin's "Myth" series. It's light, humorous fantasy along the lines of the Xanth books. I don't remember any inappropriate levels of sex, but everyone please feel free to correct my lousy memory if that's wrong.

Another Piers Anthony series, the "Apprentice Adept" books, might work -- there is occasional mention of sex but nothing detailed.

Has she read the Moomintroll books?

Also, Madeleine L'Engle's series of "A Wrinkle in Time", "A Wind in the Door", "A Swiftly Tilting Planet", and "A Ring of Endless Light".

Scott O'Dell, "Island of the Blue Dolphins".

I might have some disagreement on "Ender's Game" for a 7-year-old. It has always been one of my favorites, but I tried it a while back on DS and was appalled at the thoughtless violence of Peter and some of the boys. I decided, given DS's particular case, that we should likely wait a few more years on that one. YMMV.

The "Myth" series are great romps, but light on world building, complex characters, and politics.

Particularly thinking towards Nerdnproud's "What is this thing called fiction?" side of the thread... Richly complex worlds with many characters and delving into politics and character depth can be as much sandboxes as they are their own content and language utilitization. It is a fertile playground to explore issues of philosophy and politics and human interaction outside of the expected/known world. Some people work best with many viewpoints and situations to develop robust ideas and fiction can help fit that need (because for some reason performing secret social experiments on friends and classmates is frowned upon .)