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

I've been trying to find a list of reading books suitable for a highly sensitive girl aged 8. Does anyone know where there's a list of suitable books? jojo

I am not sure about a list, probably folks here could make recommendations. When you say sensitive, do you mean avoids scary books?
What sorts of books has she enjoyed in the past?

My friend's daughter is highly sensitive to scary things, spiders, pictures of spiders, monsters, snakes, etc. She's quite enjoyed Enid Blyton's Mallory Towers, Secret Seven and Geronimo Stilton. Just wondering if there was an established list of non-scary books for sensitive girls... jojo

I personally loved the Little House books, and although there are some specifics on animal rearing and butchering, I think all in all they are very beautiful books with kind, gentle, resourceful people portrayed.
Have you tried looking on the Hoagies site? They have some book lists and also pages on OE's.

I haven't come across a list of this type, but Nancy Pearl's Book Crush is a great resource--she provides a narrative intro to books for different ages and interests, and we've been using it extensively to locate new books for my readerly but sensitive 8 year old. The Beverly Cleary books are great for this age (Ramona, Beezus, and other series, as well as a number of stand-alone books). We've also had good luck with "old" books--Mallory Towers, and other boarding school series (Chalet School,St Clare's), with classics like The Phantom Tollbooth, and with realistic fiction that doesn't dwell on social problems or dysfunction. The lists of Newbery and Caldecott winners are also useful--http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal.cfm--and the older books tend to have fewer supernatural elements.

I also have used librarians as a great resource for this sort of question. The children's librarian at our county library seems to know every book in the place.

Try this. My son and daughter like this series:

Pearl the cloud fairy / by Daisy Meadows

Description 69 p. : ill. ; 20 cm.
Note "A little Apple paperback."
Audience RL2.
006-009.
Summary When everyone in Wetherbury becomes gloomy, Rachel and Kirsty think the Cloud Feather might be to blame.
ISBN 0439813883 (pbk.)

We've had really good luck with the "classics" Wizard of Oz, Anne of Green Gable, Heidi etc.

My DD really enjoyed the Fairy Realm series--positive main character, adventure that isn't too scary....not the "deepest" reads, but nice and enjoyable.

I also HIGHLY recommend the Betsy-Tacy series (although I find the first book a little slow and it has a sad reference to Tacy's baby sibling dying). You could easily start with the second book. They are WONDERFUL, and there is a nice sized list of them if she likes them.

What about the American Girl books? My DD also likes the updated versions of The Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew. She's currently reading and loving the Warriors series and swears it's not scary. We all love virtualy all of the Andrew Clements books.

Taminy, I remember reading the Betsy Tace series and I LOVED them!

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

about year ago I started a thread on finding books for my DD maybe this would be helpful

http://giftedissues.davidsongifted.org/BB/ubbthreads.php/topics/33607/1.html

this was mostly to find books to fit her girly girl nature that were at her reading level, but were not too adult