Fake Healer |
3 people marked this as a favorite. |
My daughter (8) has scored in the post-high school range for advanced reading. She is ranked above the 99th percentile nationwide for her grade. She has devoured just about every decent book I know of that is still within her maturity level and I am looking for ideas on books to buy her that will help her learn more subjects, enjoy the works and grow with her reading skills.
Unfortunately, while I am fairly intelligent, I feel under-equipped and am asking for assistance.
I was thinking some books on some of the more hands-on sciences like marine-biology or archeology but I don't have a clue what would do good.
If you please, post a book that you enjoyed reading and a quick reasoning for why. Keep in mind that this is for an 8 year old girl.
She has read all the Harry Potters, all the Narnias, many books on american historic figures, and a good amount of fantasy faire so far. I am going to unleash her on Tolkien shortly.
Thanks.
Lord Fyre RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32 |
Have you considered the Brother Cadfael series?
Or perhaps Nancy Drew?
Or even (you will want to check this one out first), Tom Sawyer. An American Clasic, but it deals frankly with racial issues at the turn of the last century.
On a more "Fantasy Note" check out the Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa (it is kind of a "gender swapped" Percy Jackson).
Doodlebug Anklebiter |
Tolkien, without a doubt. I first read The Hobbit in 2nd grade and though I wasn't as precocious as your daughter, I was hooked for life!
Anyway, your mentioning of science and marine biology makes 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea spring to mind. Eight might be too young for it, though, I don't know.
Back to fantasy, if she took down Harry Potter, I'd think she'd be able to tackle Ursula Le Guin's wonderful Earthsea books. +1 to Prydain, and I'd also recommend the Oz books.
Other children's classics that are particular faves of mine: The Wind in the Willows, the Winnie-the-Pooh books, The Adventures of Pinocchio and Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret although I'm not a parent and I have no idea whether 8 is too young to be dealing with menstruation.
Chris Self Former VP of Finance |
4 people marked this as a favorite. |
That's not terribly far from the time that I started in on the Shannara series by Terry Brooks.
My recommendation: get her a library card and let her pick for herself. My parents gave me a rule of "only what you can carry by yourself" at the library. I don't feel that it ever failed me or them, giving me free access to everything there.
Chris Self Former VP of Finance |
Sara Marie |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Definitely a library card!
My mom worked part time at a quilt shop when I was a kid. It was right down the street from a library and occasionally I would go along to work with her, run up to the local library and get new books and then crawl into the cubby space under the fabric cutting table and read for several hours straight as she worked. Being able to pick my own books and get a kind of self-guided exploration of the wonderful world of books is something I will be eternally grateful to my mom for.
psionichamster |
Second the library card idea.
Also consider a Nook/Kindle/etc..there are lots of free or cheap high quality epub books available.
For authors, Mccaffrey's Owen series is fantastic, L'lengle's Swiftly tilting Planet et al is equally great.
A more advanced idea might be some of the classics, like Gone with the Wind, Great Expectations, or Poe.
thejeff |
Tolkien, without a doubt. I first read The Hobbit in 2nd grade and though I wasn't as precocious as your daughter, I was hooked for life!
This reminded me. I read The Return of the King at about that age, under my covers at night with a flashlight because I thought I wouldn't be allowed. Yeah, I started with the last book. It had cool cover. I didn't understand a word of it, had nightmares for weeks and was completely hooked.
A year or two later I read the whole series aloud taking turns with my parents, a chapter a day. I highly recommend doing that, especially with something she's interested in, but might be a little beyond her.
Other young adult fantasy not yet mentioned:
Susan Cooper's "The Dark is Rising" series
Diane Duane's "So You Want to Be a Wizard" and its sequels.
Definitely second the L'engle and the library. Get her started and you won't be able to keep up with what she's reading.
A lot of the recommendations are probably a bit high for an 8 year old, but so are at least the last few Potters so that's probably fine. You might need to talk to the librarian about letting her out of the age-appropriate zone if you go that route.
Benicio Del Espada |
I don't know what she's read, but you mentioned historical biographies and such. I think the stories of influential women would be good for a girl.
Eleanor Roosevelt, Queen Elizabeth, Simone de Beauvoir, Joan of Arc, Madame Curie, Rosa Parks, and many other female scientists, politicians, activist, rulers and such would be inspiring to a young girl who can read and understand how women have affected history. Eleanor, for sure.
We'll leave Messalina alone until she's older, but there are some truly inspiring women she can look up to, and see that even in times and places where women were not considered "equal," they really were.
Dorje Sylas |
Just a slightly preemptive heads up that McCaffery's work does have a sexual undertone. It is certainly not risqué, but since she's 8 and not 13 or 14 I thought a reminder/heads-up would be helpful to you.
Personally I also agree with letting her loose on the whole of McCaffery's work as it covers the range of fantasy/SciFi. Tower and the Hive, Brain & Brawn Ship, Ireta, all fairly solid SciFi reads.
An eReader of some kind may not be out of line, especially one that allows internet access and encourages her to explore things mentioned in the books she's reading. Wikipedia may be a god awful primary scholastic source but as a primer to new topics, it's a positive although mixed blessing. thejeff mentioned not understanding a good chunk of the Return of the King, and how many times in your past were you told to "go look it up." It may seem ADHDish but a good eReader should allow for that kind "go look it up" quick access. The main use of Wikipedia is learning the terms, jargon, and vocabulary you need to actually ask the right questions to find the information you want. Maybe not one this year, but keep an eye on the eReader/Tablet market. If you are worried about content filtering options, there are DNS services that support parental filtering options.
As anecdote, much older then 8, but back when the Sunless Citadel module was published for 3e D&D. Right in the middle of the game session we had to take a quick pause and grab the paper dictionary to look up what a bunghole was. I as the DM nor any of the players knew what it was... and saying that out loud to mix bag of high school age guys... well a different slang meaning comes to mind (thank Mike Judge *roll eyes*). Of course the definition was short and basically "a hole you put a bung in", so we promptly had to go look that up. Today a quick hit on Wikipedia not only gives more info then that but also a lovely picture.
In terms of getting her into more "science" books, possibly A Brief History of Time, 10th anniversary edition, could be one that would really challenge her but be a good chaser if she takes to books like the Brain & Brawn Ship series. I assume you mention marine-biology and archeology because she's expressed interested in things related to those fields. Unfortunately I don't have any good recommendations but maybe dipping into biographies would be a good starting point. Another place you can go asking is at the local public college/university. You can generally find factuality emails on the department site, and someone on staff should be partly tasked with public outreach. Dropping a letter or request off with the relevant department's office staff may get you a better pointer to someone (possibly with kids themselves).
Expanding beyond reading for a moment, not to be nosey but how are her writing skills? If she's wolfing down books like gamers chug soda perhaps its time to look at giving her the tools and material to help bring up her writing skills. Its one thing to consume books and information, but being able succinctly summarize and synthesize is what will eventually let her pay for her own bibliophilia ;) .
Fake Healer |
some excellent suggestions so far. I knew I could count on this community.
She has a library card currently and checks out the max amount of books she can every time she goes (12 here). Usually she is done them in a week or two. The wife has a nook that she lends to my daughter most of the time also but we are probably getting her a dedicated one shortly.
I forgot about the Pern, Shannara, and Earthsea series.....good deal.
Thanks guys and if anything else springs to mind post away!
Bruno Kristensen |
I practically lived at the library from age 10-18 (to an extent that when the library was being expanded, I was asked to help cut the first sod for the building), so yes, a big +1 on the library card.
I also recommend Tolkien (start her with the Hobbit, if she takes to it, let her try LotR), Lloyd Alexander and the other books mentioned above. Three authors I've really enjoyed are Tamora Pierce (as a teenager), Kirsten Britain (Green Rider) and Raymond E. Feist. The last one is perhaps a bit more mature, but if you don't know it, take a look at the first book before passing it on to her.
Werecorpse |
some excellent suggestions so far. I knew I could count on this community.
She has a library card currently and checks out the max amount of books she can every time she goes (12 here). Usually she is done them in a week or two. The wife has a nook that she lends to my daughter most of the time also but we are probably getting her a dedicated one shortly.
I forgot about the Pern, Shannara, and Earthsea series.....good deal.
Thanks guys and if anything else springs to mind post away!
Rangers apprentice series
Perhaps Mallory towers, or chalet school girls if she wants to give non fantasy a go ( kind of Harry potter but without boys or magic)
Drejk |
Some of Neil Gaiman works may be suited: Graveyard Book, Stardust (nothing more mature than Harry Potter contained), American Gods has sex scene (or two, cant recall at the moment) so it might be too early for that depending upon her maturity and you preparedness to explain a few things. I haven't read Coraline but IIRC it was intended for quite young audience so you might check it out.
20,000 Leauges under the sea: if she read all Harry Potter books she can handle it. Other Juilius Verne's books too.
buzzby |
Redwall!
My year 6 teacher read that to the class when I was 12 and it's stuck with me ever since.
Also a fan of the eReader idea. iTunes / iBooks has previews available of the books, I assume the nook and kindle would too, so she can test read books that might be suitable.
Don't underestimate the learning potential of these devices. From using the iPad my three year old leant to write his own name, knows what a nonagon is and the order and relative sizes of the planets, can beat me in Settlers of Catan and make his way mostly unaided through Machinarium.
For reference I've had great luck with the following Apps for the iPad:
The Magic of Reality
The Elements
Dinosaurs
Machinarium
Solar System
flykiller RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32 |
thejeff |
thejeff mentioned not understanding a good chunk of the Return of the King, and how many times in your past were you told to "go look it up."
For the record it wasn't really individual words or sentences or anything else you could look up, but more overall plot, theme, etc. Helped a good deal by starting with the 3rd book, but in general what he was trying to say went over my head. It was a more adult, serious and difficult book than I'd read before.
Aaron aka Itchy |
Here's some of my favorite books:
C.S. Lewis:
The Scretape Letters: The correspondence between a demon and his uncle, Screwtape. The demon has been assigned to tempt a man. It is an interesting view of temptation with strong religious overtones (assumes a Christian viewpoint).
The Space Trilogy: Out of The Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength
Out of The Silent Planet: Wait, C.S. Lewis wrote science fiction!?!? Yes he did! In the first book of The Space Trilogy, we meet our hero Ransom, a professor of languages (somewhat modeled after Lewis himself and after Tolkein) who gets kidnapped to another planet in our solar system. This book is about good and evil, but focuses on good.
Perelandra: Our hero Ransom is called on to fight evil on another planet in the solar system. This planet is a form of the Garden of Eden and parallels that story in many aspects except that the tempter has a counterpart (Ransom) trying to prevent the fall. This book is also about good and evil, but focuses much more on the evil aspect.
That Hideous Strength: The battle between good and evil comes to earth. Our hero Ransom is in this book, but does not appear until much later. This is the one I have read the least as I never bought it when I read the first two. I only picked it up in college and read it twice, many years ago. I need to reread it again.
Further note: I started The Space Trilogy in 6th grade. I was a gifted reader as well (though not as gifted as your daughter) and these were some of the hardest books I read at that time. But the difficulty made them more rewarding.
I also recommend Watership Down. There are some really sad moments in the book. Rabbits that you care about die. Be prepared to talk about this with your daughter.
Since you are on this website, you could look at the Tales line. Winter Witch has nothing bad in it. Plague of Shadows is really good, but again there are characters who you may care about who die. It also deals with some issues of racism, but deals with them well in the fantasy setting. Both of Dave Gross' books Prince of Wolves and Master of Devils would be appropriate given her reading level. Death's Heretic would be good as well. I would give all of these a PG-13 rating for violence and slightly mature themes, but it sounds like she could handle them. I would recommend reading Worldwound Gambit before giving it to her. It has the most mature themes.
Dragonlance Chronicles (Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, Dragons of Spring Dawning): I love these books still. Jr. High reading level, some mature themes. Classics of the fantasy genre. Followed by Dragonlance Legends (Time of the Twins, War of the Twins, Test of the Twins): The original sequel to the Chronicles Trilogy that follows Raistlin and Caramon. Be aware, these books deal with some substance abuse issues (one of the main characters is an alcoholic).
Anything by Charles Dickens. An added advantage to these is that they are really long and somewhat difficult reading, which will slow her down a bit.
Tolkein, of course. But you are already planning to start that.
That's all I have time to put down right now. When I get home, I'll see if I can take a look at my bookshelf for more recommendations. I'll see if DW has any good ideas. I'll also ask a friend of mine who reads as ravenously as I do.
Aaron aka Itchy |
I haven't read Coraline but IIRC it was intended for quite young audience so you might check it out.
I have read Coraline. It was one of the creepiest books I have ever read. I would recommend reading Coraline before giving it to child.
Edit: I felt the need to put this in perspective. I love Stephen King's books. I love Neil Gaiman's books. I read almost all of the Aliens books from the 90's and enjoyed them. I like creepy. Coraline somehow touched something deeper than anything else I have seen/read.
I second the Eragon books.
Sissyl |
The Death Gate cycle by Weis and Hickman is probably a bit heavy on the death topic for some... then again, she dealt with Harry Potter. If you can get your hands on old Forgotten Realms books, Elfshadow by Elaine Cunningham would probably be a very good fit. The follow-ups Elfsong and Silver Shadows are slightly more mature, IIRC. The Finder's stone trilogy (Azure Bonds, Wyvern's spur and Song of the Saurials) by Jeff Grubb is another good example. A more modern FR author would be Rosemary Jones and her City of the Dead and Crypt of the Moaning Diamond.
I fully agree with Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain, LeGuin's Earthsea, Gaiman's Stardust and Adams' Watership Down.
As always, if you are unsure, read them yourself first. Still, from what I remember of my own reading, children take in what they can handle and leave the rest. The worst that could happen is that you have to do some talking about mature things - and it's better to have those talks when there is a good reason for them.
Chief Cook and Bottlewasher |
I'm from the UK, so I don't know US publications, but my kids and I really enjoyed the Percy Jackson series (first series modern-day Greek heroes, god and monsters, second series bringing in Romans). My daughter and I like Ali Sparkles (Finding the Fox etc) but my son won't read them because of the author's name.
flykiller RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32 |
nate lange RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 |
a lot of good suggestions here. if she's actually reading at a "post high school range" you may want to consider mixing in some classics along with the fantasy (not that a book can't be both- LotR, for example). some of them have mature subject matter, so you may need to read them first (or find a good website that tells you how suitable for children they are) but shakespeare, milton, dostoevsky... authors that everyone has heard of are (usually) famous for a reason.
flykiller RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32 |
Dostoyevsky is far from the reach even of a very gifted 8yo, I'd say. One has to be careful not to create "I read it when I was 8 and didn't like it, so no way I'm re-trying at 18" effect. There are plenty of good Russian books aimed at teens (that's mostly 19th century teens we're talking about, mind you) but I doubt those would be available in a US local library.
Out of modern Russian authors I can recommend Boris Akunin's "Children's Book" if it's available in English. Also "the Falcon and the Swallow" by him.
Alexander Grin's "Scarlet Sails" is a classic romantic novel.
There are plenty of good children's books from Sweden. "Carlsson", "Emil Lenneberg", "Pippi Longstocking" and many others.
Greek myths. You can start with adapted versions, but I found Iliad and especially Odyssey a fascinating read in their hexameter glory.
The Little Prince by Saint-Exupery is an absolute must-read.
For a gifted child it may be useful to read both C.S.Lewis and Philip Pullman works, to make her think about religion.
Possibly The Lost World by sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Also, seconding Jules Verne, his books are awesome.
LazarX |
My daughter (8) has scored in the post-high school range for advanced reading. She is ranked above the 99th percentile nationwide for her grade. She has devoured just about every decent book I know of that is still within her maturity level and I am looking for ideas on books to buy her that will help her learn more subjects, enjoy the works and grow with her reading skills.
Unfortunately, while I am fairly intelligent, I feel under-equipped and am asking for assistance.
I was thinking some books on some of the more hands-on sciences like marine-biology or archeology but I don't have a clue what would do good.
If you please, post a book that you enjoyed reading and a quick reasoning for why. Keep in mind that this is for an 8 year old girl.
She has read all the Harry Potters, all the Narnias, many books on american historic figures, and a good amount of fantasy faire so far. I am going to unleash her on Tolkien shortly.
Thanks.
If you live close to a decent city take the child to some museuems and see what fires her imagination. And take it from there.
What you really want to look for are museums like the Ben Franklin Museum in Philly or Liberty Science Center in Jersey City which feature a lot of get involved interactive type of exhibits.
Paul Watson |
Phillip Pullman's Ruby in the Smoke series (Ruby in the Smoke, Shadow in the North, Tiger in the Well, Tin Princess) is better than His Dark Materials. The last book in the latter needs an editor badly and is more a polemic dressed up as a fiction book. IMO.
Deidre Tiriel |
If she is as gifted as you say, Isaac Asimov's science fiction would be great. He was my husband's favorite author growing up, and still is. He is one of the few authors who is challenging, yet still has age-appropriate content.
Also, look at some of the classics, books read in high school english classes. They are usually age-appropriate and would be more challenge-appropriate for her than most of the books for her age group.
Here's a link to AP English suggested reading list - which is considered "post-high school" level:
http://www.thewritingtutor.biz/suggested_reading/APliteraturebyauthor.php
Here's a couple links to High School English reading lists:
http://www.waldsfe.org/highschool/HAHS/hsbl.htm
http://www.phschool.com/curriculum_support/reading_list/high_school.html
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/plan/boost-your-skills/23628.html
I highly suggest getting some of these from a library instead of buying them. Additionally, some of these books are probably available to read online for free.
Brian Darnell |
Lloyd Alexander - the Prydain series. I read those when I was around 8, loved them then and still do. (I too was an advanced reader).
You stole my recommendation. The Chronicles of Prydain are great for kids. I read them about that age and ate them up. Really deep fantasy and a lot easier to read than Tolkien.
Doodlebug Anklebiter |
Dostoyevsky is far from the reach even of a very gifted 8yo, I'd say. One has to be careful not to create "I read it when I was 8 and didn't like it, so no way I'm re-trying at 18" effect. There are plenty of good Russian books aimed at teens (that's mostly 19th century teens we're talking about, mind you) but I doubt those would be available in a US local library.
I'd start her off with something simple, like The Brothers Karamazov. Then, maybe, The Tin Drum by Gunther Grass or Madame Bovary by Flaubert. She could then move on to some Virginia Woolf or Vladimir Nabokov. Then maybe Brett Easton Ellis.
EDIT: I was reminded in another thread of Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange which is also a great young adult read.
Foghammer |
It's not 'literature' per se, but The Hunger Games trilogy was a good read for entertainment, though it does hint at something rather like a political message (or warning?). If her reading comprehension is at such a high level, she'll probably get more out of it than the people I hang out with at home. One of my roommates could only compare it to Twilight, but any love triangle he sees gets that label as of late.
If you haven't read it, or even heard of it, it's basically about a dystopian-futuristic America where people have to send children to the capitol (called The Capitol) to fight to the death for the amusement of the rich people living there. I can't say much else without spoiling it. The main character is a girl with attachment issues who finds herself caught between getting lost in pretending to be in love with one guy and missing her best male friend back home; the emotional struggles over the boys are largely circumstantial and don't get any more 'screen time' than the overarching 'you could die at any moment' theme. It's growing in popularity, though it's getting its fair share of criticism as well, just like any book that achieves such a level of notoriety.
Sadly, I can't say that I read as much as a self-proclaimed nerd of my caliber should and can't recommend more than that.
Fake Healer |
If she is as gifted as you say, Isaac Asimov's science fiction would be great. He was my husband's favorite author growing up, and still is. He is one of the few authors who is challenging, yet still has age-appropriate content.
Also, look at some of the classics, books read in high school english classes. They are usually age-appropriate and would be more challenge-appropriate for her than most of the books for her age group.
Here's a link to AP English suggested reading list - which is considered "post-high school" level:
Here's a couple links to High School English reading lists:
I highly suggest getting some of these from a library instead of buying them. Additionally, some of these books are probably available to read online for free.
Fixed links for my own reference....
Guang |
oh, cool! I was just like that at her age. My advice: start teaching her the basics of how her library is laid out, and let her browse. I ended up with the first 2 levels of the dewey decimal system printed out on a little card so I could find stuff by the age of 10 or so, and I read in just about every category.
I'm hoping my kid turns out the same way. He's just learning to read now.
Fake Healer |
Drejk wrote:I haven't read Coraline but IIRC it was intended for quite young audience so you might check it out.I have read Coraline. It was one of the creepiest books I have ever read. I would recommend reading Coraline before giving it to child.
Edit: I felt the need to put this in perspective. I love Stephen King's books. I love Neil Gaiman's books. I read almost all of the Aliens books from the 90's and enjoyed them. I like creepy. Coraline somehow touched something deeper than anything else I have seen/read.
I second the Eragon books.
Warning taken and thanks. Don't need a couple weeks of getting woken in the middle of the night....
Drejk |
Oh, if she's going to start the Earthsea books, you should probably make her stop after the original three. The later books get quite adult in their concerns.
Concerning 4th book:
Drejk |
Huh. This reminds me that the same might be the problem of late Jedi Order (pre-Clone Wars), where they started that serenity/no-emotion training in very early age somewhat diverging from the standard psychological development of sexuality.