Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Good books?

Hi Nautigal,
Welcome! I love the Cyteen series - but would NOT reccomend them for a twelve year old who is sensitive. (rape + drugs) Great Characters though and big ideas - so fun.

Hi Bassetlover,
I like Jane Yolen- lots but not all are ok for kids.

We found The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, by Diana Wynne Jones
Charmed Life / The Lives of Christopher Chant
The Magicians of Caprona / Witch Week

through the movie 'Howl's moving Castle' which is based on Diana Wynne Jones's book.

Last summer we all read and enjoyed Orson Scott Card's Enders series(es)
Yummy. Some violence, though.

Tamora Pierce is a favorite.

I'm not personally a fan, but lots of kids like Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern - and it's a series.

I love the Oz series, even though it won't be a challenge.



You could try Hoagies Gifted for more ideas:
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/hot_topics.htm

http://www.amazon.com/Hoagies-Book-List-Gifted-Girls/lm/9691A06HA6TO

"Speak" by L. Anderson
Sherman Alexie books
Garth Nix "Sabriel", "Lireal" & "Abhorsen" trilogy
Chronicles of Oz (The Takers, etc.)

At school mine read (I only remember some):
Anne Frank - 7th
The Giver - 7th
The Good Earth - 8th
To Kill a Mockingbird - 8th
Animal Farm - 9th

If your daughter is really advanced, start reading from the AP English book list--there are so many. I'll try to find a link

Oooh, I had forgotten Ender's Game and the rest!

I guess I had also forgotten the inappropriate bits of Cyteen, sorry! Depends on the sensitivities of the child in question, and the parents...I wouldn't think twice about it when my kids get to that age, most likely, but I wouldn't keep them from the better Heinlein either!

Grinity, I agree about Anne McCaffrey--I've never gotten into anything of hers, for some reason.

I also forgot to mention another series by Robert Asprin that would be good--the Phule books. Phule's Company, A Phule and his Money, etc.

How about Gone With the Wind? I had probably read that a few times at that age. And if she might like mysteries, you could try the Mrs. Pollifax books by Dorothy Gilman--they are great "girl-inspiration" in a completely non-preachy way, about a little old lady who goes to work for the CIA as a spy.

I'm sorry, don't get me started on books...it's quite hazardous!

I was speaking with our high school English teacher yesterday and she said that she had to discontinue teaching British lit and Shakespeare. The students just cannot get it at all. They cannot read the language - too difficult.

She said that learning to read this type of lit starts early and to read to our daughter (above her level) so that she can hear it. We have done some of this, but I have been lax lately. This really scared me that our culture is going to only modern books.

I cannot even believe this. Is this shocking to others or just me??

Yes, shocking Chris.

Some that my daughter�s freshman class has read this year;

The Prince and the Pauper

Jane Eyre

A Separate Peace

DS has recommended these to friends this year.

The Hunger Games

Evil Genius and Genius Squad

Shocking, sad, infuriating...YES!

Mostly it just makes me want to go curl up in a ball and cry!

Sure, Shakespeare and others take time, but to have it gone from literature. It is frightening. The students just will not do it.

I bought a set of books a long time ago when my daughter was little called The Harvard Classics. My daughter was not interested in reading them, but my son really liked listening to me read Aesop's Fables when he was three or four years old. When he was five or six and had to do a character study for some characters in Hamlet for his musical theater class and he did not have a problem with the vocabulary, but he started talking like a Shakespearean actor and would remain "in character" through the gymnastics class he was in at the time. I think it was one of the reasons the new teacher gymnastics teacher seemed to be annoyed by him. The old teacher acted like she thought it was cute and went along with it.