Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Reading Level Capped

Oh my gosh "beloved" is a great book but so very disturbing. I read it as an adult and it still bothers me.

Right.

I threw it out the day that the Lexile "book selector" tool told me that some Flaubert would be around right for my then-8yo.

:hair-on-fire:

We've never restricted DD's books, just not provided some things at some times-- and thanks to not sending her into a classroom environment which did, she's never really regarded books as anything but "books." She finds this entire concept alien. My DH and I were both "restricted" by well-meaning librarians as children.

Have to agree that just reading the words on the page and understanding the literal narrative arc is a way different thing than "understanding" some books-- and L'Engle and HP come to mind right away there. Percy Jackson is pretty literal and WYSIWYG.

We found that going into older series was helpful for increasing literacy level without also increasing age-level in the topical material.

Kids who like funny material may like Patrick MacManus. My fantasy-loving DD is a huge fan of his stuff. She also liked Redwall (and happily there are a LOT of those books).

M loves the rainbow magic books, too. But, she loves all books. She got "stuck" reading George macdonald "the princess and the goblin" last year (age 6). It was taking her ages to read it. I asked her one night what was going on and she said "I don't know. It feels like a long book" and I told her that it was actually shorter than what she had been reading. She paused for a bit and said "is it possible that I don't like this book? I mean, that's never happened before, I love all books... But maybe I don't like it?" She seemed traumatized to acknowledge it. So, she reads some books to feed her brain, and some books to feed her soul. This also meant that some popular fiction does not enter this house, because she will read whatever she picks up. Ahem. No Fifty Shades here!

+1

Oh my goodness, George Macdonald was one of my DD's favorites at 6. So funny-- different tastes in different kids. She loved The Princess and the Goblin and The Golden Key both.

Howler, I LOVED IT, too! She did like "daddy long legs" though, so it's not because it was an older book, I guess she just didn't actually like it. Hmmmm.

Loved Daddy Long legs!

This concept of keeping children away from more difficult books seems so bizarre. I grew up in a home full of books and can't recall being restricted there, at school or in the town library, save for some books with quite mature content. (I wiggled around that some at home and am still slightly scarred by reading some book about nuns being killed in the Congo, probably at about age 10.) No one seemed to care that I might want books ahead of my grade level. The notion that teachers or librarians think they need to restrict something because it might be too hard seems like they are heading out on a fool's errand.

Ditto

Agreed.

I mean, sure-- the Cheever short story anthology was probably a bit much at 12. Similarly murder mysteries at 8 or 9. But this might explain why I didn't blink when DD wanted to read Mary McGarry Morris tomes at 12 and 13. I figure if she's having trouble with it, she'll stop reading. :shrug: Or talk to me about it (which she has done).