Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Books to read to gifted 4yo

I have a 7yr old who has high functioning autism and loves reading. He has always shown an interest from birth and had a long attention span for books. So I kept buying him books, borrowing books and reading whenever we had the chance. He struggled with his reading at first and had a lot of problems with comprehension but then it just clicked. He is now reading well ahead if his peers, and has an hour of silent reading on his own every night.

This has freed me up to read with my daughter as she always had to sit and listen to whatever he wanted us to read before. We have now read through all her favourites several times over and she needs some new books on her shelf. She is 4yrs old and recently tested in the very superior range (despite having had to put up with her brother's needs often being met before hers). I would like to try and offer some more opportunity for language enrichment than I have has time for in the past and am after some good book suggestions. She is starting to read on her own but I am looking more for things I can read to her at bedtime, when my son is preoccupied with his books and I have some quality time for her.

She loves a lot of the language in the old classics, her favorites include any of the Beatrix Potter books, The Velveteen Rabbit, Alice in Wonderland. Books my son would never have been interested in as the language confused him. We have read a lot of Dr Suess as these were my son's favourites early on. She also loves the fancy nancy series with all the big words, which she will then quickly use in her own conversations soon after learning them.

While her scores were pretty consistent, her verbal IQ was quite impressive, and I would like to nurture it with some good children's books that might give her some of the extension she has been lacking. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Chapter books:
Half Magic and sequel
Betsy-Tacy and sequels
Mandy

Picture books:
The Secret in the garden
The night is singing
Ladybug girl and sequels
Blueberry girl

Have fun!

Milly-Molly-Mandy and sequels
Little House on the Prairie and sequels
Ramona books

For herself, if she's just starting to read, see if she likes the Rainbow Magic fairy books. Those were the "crack" that got my daughter reading independently when she was five. Don't read them aloud - they'll melt your brain - but little girls seem to love them.

I've always liked the Shoes books, by Noel Streatfeild. Theater Shoes, Ballet Shoes, Skating Shoes, etc.

If she likes the language of the classics and has the attention span for the bigger books, she might like those. They are classic, old, and British. I'm still waiting for my DD to get to where she will sit through them -- we just finished our first large chapter book with no pictures, The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles, and she was a bit worn out on it by the end. We're starting on The Wizard of Oz soon, after she fills up on books with more pictures again!

I second Half Magic -- that's still one of my favorites. The Night They Stole the Alphabet is in there, too -- can't recall author.

Beverly Cleary books, like The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Henry and Ribsy, Ramona the Brave.

Kate DiCamillo's Edward Tulane is very much like The Velveteen Rabbit, and her other books are lovely, too. The Tale of Despereaux is one of the last books that my DD allowed me to read aloud to her.

The Great Brain (series).

Take a look at the ALA's list of Newbery winners and honorees for examples of remarkable children's literature, too. We found some amazing books that way when my DD was this age.

The suggestion is good, but be sure to prescreen for suitability. You would not believe the number of dead dogs in Newbery books, especially the winners. It's become an in joke for me and one of the other moms at DD9's school. Newbery books are generally aimed at middle schoolers, and may be too much for a younger child emotionally even though they are good books.

We have never read to our children. I wonder if that is considered unusual around here.

DS would be apoplectic without books and reading as a family. We easily spend 2-3 hours each day, often more, reading at his behest. It is his greatest passion.

To the OP--
- The Enid Blyton books (not the "Noddy" series) are a great hit.
- James Herriott's various animal stories are delightful and innocent. I used to love the cat stories as a child. (I still do, actually!)
- Jane Hissey is a fabulous author and draws remarkable pencil crayon illustrations. Her stories were adventures written for her children starring their favourite stuffed animals.
- Shel Silverstein poetry.
- Paddington Bear. Anthropomorphism FTW!

I bet! Not even when they were tiny? Why not?

Depends on taste; my 4yo was very easily scared by books which made many things unsuitable. I do remember him enjoying

Winnie the Pooh (the originals of course!)
Farmer Giles of Ham

and to my surprise, Seamus Heaney's wonderful translation of Beowulf!