Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources book list for highly sensitive girl

so no dragons, wizards, fighting owls/cats/bear/squirrels/rabbits, ghosts, sorcerors or shape shifting aliens? Wha?? There are books girls read NOT on those topics???

:-)

I don't like the attitude displayed in most recent series, and my dd isn't into wizards and witches, etc.



Have you noticed how many of the classics (and many newer books) have a deceased parent/s? I know it was a greater factor in the past, due to limited medical/scientific knowledge, but I'm trying to give DD a break from orphans or one-deceased-parent stories.

This morning I looked through:

Anne of Green Gables- Orphan
Pollyanna- Orphan
Box Car Children- Orphans obviously
The Penderiwcks- Dead mother
Four Story Mistake (The Melendy Quartet)- Dead Mother
Pippi Longstockings- I don't know what happened with her.
Sara Plain and Tall- Dead mother


Good grief! (sorry for the pun) What's next? A prequel to Pinnochio where his parents are used as firewood?

As a former English instructor who once taught a course on children's lit...

My theory about the dead parent syndrome is that good parents usually limit the choices a child can make. To make for more conflict, more potential for interesting developments in the plot, the parents--especially the nurturing mother--need to be eliminated from the story.

The other options are to offer a "bad parent," e.g. the wicked stepmother, or to have relatively unrealistic scenarios for the child (that can still be entertaining!), e.g. Encyclopedia Brown, who had 2 healthy parents, but also ran a detective agency.

Don't take it too personally. It is a common trope, but it's just a way to provide a child with freedom to make unusual choices. Pippi Longstocking is a GREAT example of this! Maybe if you explain it to her this way it would be less troubling to her?

I'll put in another plug for Betsy-Tacy books then: no dead parents (although the first book includes death of Tacy's infant brother or sister and one of the highschool books late in the series involves death of a friend's father)

I always found the dead pets/animals to be horrifying as a young reader-
Where the Red Fern Grows
Charlotte's Web
Old Yeller
Summer of the Monkeys
A Day No Pigs Would Die (featuring a slaughterhouse and dead dad!)

Why are these considered appropriate for children??? Clearly "coming-of-age" translates into dealing with death and depression!

As for recommendations:
Ramona Quimby -series (Cleary)
Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade (DeClements)
Judy Moody -series (McDonald)
Freaky Friday (Rodgers)
Hannah Gloria Whelan (Hannah is blind and poor but overcomes adversity)
Ivy + Bean -series(Barrows)

My wife and I are first generation immigrants so we never read any of these children books ourselves. Also I don't have time to hand-pick books for my two daughters when they were little. So I figured out a system that seems to work. I limited the book universe to award winners only (Newbery medal winners and honor books). I figured that I can't go too wrong with these books even without a pre-screen.

following URL for newbery winners.
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/a...erymedal/newberywinners/medalwinners.cfm

I brought almost entire set of newbery winners and majority of newbery honors over the years. They just pick books up from the bookshelf and read as they please. Some had been read many times, some not. Some of the books are fairly dark and may be scary to some more sensitive kids. But my kids seemed to be fine.

I admit that it is pretty simplistic approach, but saved me a lot of time and energy. This works until middle school. By then they are complete free to choose whatever they want to read.

Can I trot out (again!) one of my favourite suggestions for this situation? Esther Averill's "Cat Club" series is lovely for the sensitive reader (girl or boy, I'd say). Nothing scary, nobody dies, everyone is polite...nice gentle books.

peace
minnie

Kriston,

That makes perfect sense. I explained your response to DD, and I think she feels better about the "dead parent syndrome".


Taminy,

I ordered the Betsy Tacy books from the library (all except the first one), and we're looking forward to getting them. I had a hard time trying to find the order of the series, so I just ordered "Over the Hill", "Downtown", and the one with "Tib" or something like that.

I'm glad. It is troubling to many adults, so it's not surprising that it seems problematic to a sensitive kid.

DD10 loves animal books, but they end up being sad stories where a polarbear cub gets lost or a dog is abused etc. While they usually have a happy ending, she gets very emotional and has a hard time reading through them. Some of the books she has liked without tears lately are:

Mysterious Benedict Society
39 Clues
Seedfolks
Poppy
The End of the Beginning
The Good Dog
From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil Frankweiler
Nancy Drew

Jen