What is your gifted child reading? - Page 4

[moominmamma]

Originally Posted by Geofizz 

Another issue about HP is that my kids don't have the context for understanding a lot of parts of it.  Fundamentally, the idea of a boarding school is foreign. 

It's funny, my eldest dd (who read the books between the ages of 4 and 13, waiting anxiously for each release date from Azkaban onwards), told me that as a young child she thought boarding school was a Rowling invention, just like so much else in the books. Because of course kids with magical powers couldn't be educated without being secreted away in a magical place, a "school" where they actually lived -- how weird and imaginative, she thought! It wasn't until she read "The Little Princess" that she realized there were actual real, non-magical boarding schools, and that this was the idea Hogwarts was based on.

Miranda

[aishamama]

Thank you so much for sharing.  Hmm, I think these books might be too much for my son then because he's extremely sensitive.\

Any ideas for a good first chapter book for sensitive kids? He has to read one book every single night for school so I had purchased the Second grade Harcourt books that they use in his school for those but now he's all done with both volumes. The teacher said we can move to the Third grade or even Fourth grade level.

[Cassidy68]

aishamama, what are your son's interests?

I am a YA author mostly, but I've written two early chapter books for 7-9 year olds (about a grade 2 reading level). I really wrote them with my son in mind, so they're about a boy who loves to invent things. http://www.robinstevenson.com/wordpress/out-of-order/ben-the-inventor/

They're part of a series of early chapter books published by Orca-- the Orca Echoes series. I've read quite a few of them, by a number of different authors, and I think they would be fine for a senstive kid. They are short and have some illustrations.

Some early chapter books that my son liked include Lynne Reid Banks "Harry the Poisonous Centipede", Roald Dahl's "The Magic Finger", the Ivy and Bean series, and (though I couldn't stand these ones personally!) the first 30 or so books in the Secrets of Droon series. I'll always be grateful to Droon though, as it was a real gateway to fantasy experience for my son.

[moominmamma]

I used to use LibraryThing a lot (a site for indexing your home library) and created a tag there called Gentle Stories. These are mostly novels that I would think would be suitable for a typically-sensitive 3- or 4-year-old, or a more-sensitive-than-usual 5- or 6-year-old. You might find some suggestions in my list: books by Dick King-Smith, Cynthia Rylant, E.B. White and Astrid Lindgren have been particularly enjoyed here.

Miranda

[Cassidy68]

Sounds like a great list, Miranda.I started getting into Librarything awhile back but then discovered Goodreads and got hooked in there ;-)

[moominmamma]

Originally Posted by Cassidy68 

Sounds like a great list, Miranda.I started getting into Librarything awhile back but then discovered Goodreads and got hooked in there ;-)

Yup, me too.

Miranda

[aishamama]

I love your reading list!  I will show him this list on the weekend.

Cassidy68, I love your website. I've written two children's books and they're published. It was just a hobby, nothing like you. 

I will check these out and I'm sure I'll find something. 

thanks everyone!

[Cassidy68]

Originally Posted by aishamama 

Cassidy68, I love your website. I've written two children's books and they're published. It was just a hobby, nothing like you. 

Aishamama, you never know. This started out as a mat leave hobby for me.... but got a bit out of control because once I started, I got obsessed. Gosh, I wonder where my son gets that trait from ;)

[MJB]

Originally Posted by aishamama 

Can I ask you about HP?   Is the content ok for this age generally?  I haven't even peeked in these books but am hoping to stimulate my son more and get him interested in other topics / genre if he likes it.  So I just wanted to ask what you feel about the content and language. 

I think they're fine unless your kid is really sensitive to scary or dark themes. I don't think there's any language anyone would be offended by. The first 3 books are probably fine for every kid-- the fourth is where they get more intense. A friend's 8 year old only read the first 3 and is waiting on the rest; my 6 yr. old has loved all the books (I think he's on the 6th now and started them 3-4 weeks ago). My oldest listened to the audio books at 6 and read the books at 8. Both of them have seen all the movies.

[LynnS6]

Originally Posted by aishamama 

Can I ask you about HP?   Is the content ok for this age generally?  I haven't even peeked in these books but am hoping to stimulate my son more and get him interested in other topics / genre if he likes it.  So I just wanted to ask what you feel about the content and language.

Our daughter started HP the spring while she was in 1st grade and finished the series by the end of the summer. She was fine with all the books, and she's a pretty sensitive kid. That being said, if your son hasn't expressed interest, there's no  harm in waiting. The movies are too intense, though dd has watched the first 4-5. We're waiting on the 6th and 7th until she's older (she's only in 2nd grade now). It helps that her older brother hasn't finished all the books yet. I try really hard to have our kids read the books before seeing the movie.

Originally Posted by Geofizz 

Another issue about HP is that my kids don't have the context for understanding a lot of parts of it.  Fundamentally, the idea of a boarding school is foreign.

Funny, that wasn't a problem at all for my kids. Maybe we'd read some other British novels with kids going off to boarding school. Dd spent most of the summer packing up suitcases and dragging them out to the front lawn to go to boarding school.
 

Originally Posted by aishamama 

Thank you so much for sharing.  Hmm, I think these books might be too much for my son then because he's extremely sensitive.\

Any ideas for a good first chapter book for sensitive kids? He has to read one book every single night for school so I had purchased the Second grade Harcourt books that they use in his school for those but now he's all done with both volumes. The teacher said we can move to the Third grade or even Fourth grade level.

A year or more ago I started an MDC wiki http://www.mothering.com/community/a/books-for-early-advanced-readers -- Books for Early Advanced Readers. Some people have contributed and it's a good start. You can always add!

My vote for good first chapter books would be: The Word According to Humphrey series. It's a delightful little series about a classroom hamster and how he learns about (and helps) the humans in the class. Not scary, funny, charming.

Is he past things like Cam Jansen? Those were a favorite of my dd's when she was reading at about a 2nd grade level. Has he read the Magic Tree House books? If your son is in first grade, then they are still expecting kids to be reading shorter picture type books and so you might want to talk to the teacher about making it a chapter or two a night rather than a book a night. You can't read a whole Harry Potter in one night! Personally, I'd think that expanding his reading beyond the books that are in the school curriculum. I'd want to keep those fresh.
 

[melissa17s]

Originally Posted by Geofizz 

Another issue about HP is that my kids don't have the context for understanding a lot of parts of it.  Fundamentally, the idea of a boarding school is foreign. 

This hasn't phased my 6 year old, but it was a primary sticking point for my DD at age 7. 

We've decided my 6 year old is not yet ready for the themes past book 3.  While he can do the reading, the content is not appropriate for this particular child.  He dreams vividly and readily incorporates stories and images into his dreams.  (A point first discovered after letting him watch a NOVA on the Chilean Mine Rescue.)  While I think my 9 year old can handle the themes now, she is resisting.  I suspect she realizes that at some level she isn't quite ready.  Percy Jackson was no big deal though. 

We'll likely reevaluate in another few months or so for DS.  He wants to read the next books.  I might let him read them this summer if he promises to not read after 12 pm or so.

I read the first book to my kids 2 years when ds was 9 and dd was 6-7) ago not knowing it was going to scare them.  They really liked it, but asked me not to read any more in the series to them.  Dh would over hear parts and he went to boarding school in the UK, so he said it was so similar to his experience.  Rowling took common boarding school terms and concepts and just altered slightly to be more magical.  For instances the OWLS would be like taking the O level exams. The student teacher interactions were similar.  Dh and I ended up reading the whole series and kids do not think they are ready yet.  

I am going to refer to some of the lists posted for sensitive and young readers.  DD gets scared easily and ds has a very vivid imagination.  Ds still has an urge to run and jump when content gets to exciting, scarey, or wild for him (it also happens with movies and video games).  

[jes h]

I've been hovering on this thread.  DH and I were just discussing this last night.  We've been reading Magic Treehouse books to our nearly 4 year old - he loves them... and were discussing next stories for him. 

He is also super sensitive;  We have to carefully pick movies for movie night, and consider any TV we watch.  He will freak out with suspenseful music or plot development - he was better with movies a year or two ago when he didn't comprehend the plot as well.  As an early/advanced reader myself, I can think of many occasions that I read something that I wasn't quite ready for, and want to avoid that with him.  (One that stands out;  some kind of creepy sexual encounter in the unabridged version of The Stand my mom gave me.  She must have forgotten about it, but I certainly didn't!  I think that was in early middle school.)  

I'm bookmarking the lists you all posted.  Thanks!

[minkin03]

Right now my kindergartner is reading "The Music of Dolphins".

[Cassidy68]

I posted a list of my son's favorite book series on my blog a few days ago: http://www.robinstevenson.com/wordpress/2012/04/09/top-ten-book-series-for-kids/

[LuckyMommaToo]

My 8 y.o. DS just finished a brand-new book, The False Prince. It's the first in a trilogy. He LOVED it. Was absolutely captivated. Highly recommend for the HP and Percy fans.

http://www.amazon.com/The-False-Prince-Ascendance-Trilogy/dp/0545284139/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334680895&sr=8-1

We're just bummed that we can't find a release date for the next one! Hope it's not too long.

-e