Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School books for a 5 y/o Douglas Adams fan

wow, thanks, Enon, for all the great recommendations. you're right that it's the humour she's responding to - she loved the wordplay in the Alice books (and she loves the Oz books, too - which, i agree, are wonderful!)

i never thought of Wodehouse and A Connecticut Yankee..., but those are right up her street and they're already here in the house (bonus!) i'm sure she'll come back to Ramona at some point, but i get the sense she's loving the idea of being able to read "grown-up" books since her comprehension has been virtually on an adult level for several years and that has been a huge frustration for her.

which is why i am leery of handing over the Hitchhiker books for her to read on her own. we read her the entire HP series when she was three, and so we were able to talk about all those situations together as we met them. of course, we're still reading plenty of books together, but until quite recently, DD5 had somehow convinced herself she was too young to be reading (even though she was decoding by the time she was 2.) so now that she's basically de-programmed, i really want her to be able to feel herself flying, without having to "ask the adult" too often since that might reinforce her idea that she's not old enough. i have zero issues talking with her about anything she runs into - but i'd love for her to have a stockpile of meaty and fun literature where she doesn't need me at all, ykwim?

...because this is a kid who would NEED TO KNOW about the social ramifications of Eccentrica Gallumbits' job. it would probably be a really interesting conversation, and i'm sure we'd both get a lot out of it, but i think it can probably wait for a bit since building her independence right now is soooo key!

thank you, everyone - this is a GREAT booklist and i'll be sorting through it and stocking the shelves for sure.

I remember killing myself laughing at Gordon Korman books as a kid. Starting at around 7 I read every one that I could find in the library. I'm can't remember how appropriate the content would be but might be worth looking into. I've tried to get DS7 to try one but he is resisting anything fiction or non-astrophysics at the moment...... I'm hoping George's Secret Key to the Universe will be out gateway to fiction book We're both about halfway through and I like it so far (he's not totally sold on it yet).

Loving the list, I've put a few on hold at the library and can't wait.

This seems like a tall order to me. Even your very, very bright kiddo is going to run into some situations and references she doesn't follow in adult books, right? So I think you may need to compromise on either the meatiness or the "doesn't need me at all" part.

I came in here, though, to suggest E. Nesbit, who is very, very funny indeed. Don't jump to adult books TOO too fast, or you'll be in the soup later! There are plenty of delightful kids' books left, I hope! (Perhaps not in a few years.)

hee - ultramarina - i'm so nervous that we're already in the soup! i'm so bummed out that she might just skip over tons of great kids' literature - but i'm hoping that once we get over this hump she'll circle back around to all the great stuff she missed. (er, who am i kidding? she'll probably skip it all - just like she skipped crawling and a hundred other things. sigh)

chay - i, too, loved Gordon Korman (and here i thought i was the ONLY one!) - my mum saved a complete set of the Bruno & Boots for us, but they're languishing on the shelves right now. maybe i'll just read a chapter aloud to her and see if she bites... actually, maybe i'll do that with all the great stuff i don't want her to skip!

thanks again, everyone, for helping out on this, tallest of tall orders!

But don't stop at a chapter end....stop at a spot where you really want to know what happens next...sometimes I have to go to the bathroom or get a glass of water or it is just time to go to sleep...I say goodnight...but ds knows he gets an extra half hour if he is reading, nothing else...it is either a book or lights out.

If he keeps reading our read aloud, he has to "catch me up" to the new stopping point when I read to him the next night...which is good summarizing practice. If he gets to the end before I get to him the next night, we start something else and I finish on my own.

Your kid is definitely in a different league than mine...BUT...I still think you might want to try to keep her in children's books for a while longer. The older British ones can be very sophisticated with language, and even despite her intelligence AND apparent old-soul stuff, there is a lot with adult books that isn't going to be right. PLus the canon of children's lit contains so much goodness--and IMO, is important to cultural literacy. There's plenty that really isn't worth her time, and there are adult books she could add in, of course. But I'd really try to not let her think that she should be leaving kid lit behind.

What about Anne of Green Gables? Very different from Douglas Adams!--but meaty, and there are a lot of them, and they can be funny, though a bit antiquated. The later ones will appeal to a child who is interested in adult doings, while still being appropriate (though they do deal with war and there are deaths).

Totally agree with this. Fwiw mine was reading similarly at 5 and yet still at 10 reads mostly children's fiction. Exceptions I recall include Douglas Adams of course, some Agatha Christie, Asimov, Tolkien (but not LotR till ?8 - Farmer Giles of Ham was a hit at 5 though). Pratchett's Discworld wasn't a hit, to my surprise.

There is so much written for children that I just don't see why any child would need to skip it. And much adult fiction isn't going to be appreciated without much more life experience. I'd be surprised if any 5yo really enjoyed Wodehouse. I wouldn't advocate forbidding a child to read adult fiction either, but I would treat an impression that children's fiction has been outgrown as an error to be corrected. I frequently enjoy reading DS's books, after all!

that is so good to hear, ColinsMum - i really don't want DD to miss anything and i really am hoping that she'll swing back around again. she has SO much time - i'm really alarmed by her pace these days - i feel like i barely even knew her before.

with homeschool, i can (and do) assign things that are more "age-appropriate" - i'm very conscious that i've messed her up badly by reading to her at her comprehension level her entire life. her teachers were very clear with me about that last year, and i guess i'm reaping what i've sown. it's just the reading-for-pleasure side that i have to be careful - no point in getting a bunch of things she's never going to finish.

small update: we started a family book project yesterday (read/discuss/track), and DD just pulled down a bunch of old picture books so she can get off to a fast start. if handled delicately, this might be a nice way for her to get into some of the books she might otherwise miss - but i'll have to keep an eye out so it doesn't just become a numbers game for her. the book project is not supposed to be competitive, but... this is, after all, the kid who this very morning turned a simple Math Lab on Probability into a cut-throat contest amongst values in her data set. (sigh)

Oh, I don't think you've messed her up! Nothing wrong with going higher with guidance, as long as she hasn't developed some type of automatic resistance to anything that looks like a kids' book. Even if she is having a phase like that, though, I'd say it's important not to "give up," you know? Just as we wouldn't give up on a kid who was resisting all fiction, or resisting everything but Harry Potter over and over (BTDT), or even resisting reading at all. Strew the path, strew the path, with delicious-looking books.