I’m not really sure about the title for this post – because I certainly do not think these recommendations apply solely to children who have been identified as Gifted. However, as a teacher of gifted kids, I know that parents often ask me for ideas on reading material. After reading Wonder, and commenting about it on yesterday’s post, I thought I would share a few other resources for quality books to which you can direct parents.
NPR just posted a list on August 5th called, “The Ultimate Backseat Bookshelf: 100 Must-Reads for Kids 9-14.” The list was created with input from the NPR audience, and includes most of the classics I read as a child. There are a few new ones, including Wonder, on the list.
For the younger set, the great host of “Not Just Child’s Play” has a couple of posts with lists of book recommendations that you might want to view – “Stories About Real People” and “Books That Celebrate Differences.”
Although it is certainly not comprehensive, I have a Pinterest Board of recommendations here.
One book that I would like to mention, in particular, is Heroes for My Daughter by Brad Meltzer. I bought this book for my own daughter as a gift for her 5th grade graduation. I took pictures of all of her elementary school teachers and made a collage that looked similar to the inside cover of the book. Each teacher signed it. I read a story from this book each night to my daughter before we move on to whatever current chapter book we are reading. The biographies are short, and usually include a quote that we discuss. The included heroes are a diverse group – from the Three Stooges to Julia Child, and we both are learning about history as well as admirable attributes that led to positive change in the world. Meltzer has a similar book, Heroes for My Son, available, as well.
Google “books for gifted” and you will get a plethora of results. I’ve tried to scale it down for you a bit here as it can be a bit overwhelming! Hopefully, these links give you some good starting points.
Wow-what a wonderful gift for your daughter-both the book and the time spent together reading it! I had a parent have me sign a book for her this year after Kindergarten and thought about how she will go back and read it as an almost adult-I think that would be really cool!
In our neck of the woods, a lot of parents do that with the Dr. Seuss book, Oh the Places We’ll Go. I just wanted to do something a bit different. I didn’t think of it until this year, so I was fortunate that all of her former teachers still worked at the school!