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Not sure if this should go here or the book forum. Feel free to move it mods.
My 9 year old is crazy smart. She reads approx. 10 chapter books/week and is starting to get tired of the ones for her age b/c they're so short and so many of them are along the same lines.
She's been trying to venture into the YA section @ the library lately. She's managed to find some books that are still ok for her to read, but then Sunday (she went w/ her dad who of course paid no attention, lol) she brought home Paula Danziger ( ) and also a Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book. Fortunately she's really honest and showed them to me to find out if she was allowed to read them.
What age did you let your kids move up to bigger books and what books were they? I'm thinking next year when she hits 10 I might introduce her to Judy Blume. I know I read them in 4th grade. But Paula Danziger? NO WAY. Not till she's a teen.
Well, at some time you will have to open the door wide open and it will have to be sooner for her (within reason, I suppose). One idea I heard of once and that I have mentioned on here before, is to read the book beforehand and write in the margins noting anything you want to discuss with her or your idea on the subject being presented. Of course, this means buying the books but you can get books so cheap if you know where to go. Ideally, you can find a good outlet for cheap young adult books and let her go crazy. Then you have a stack to read through.
Also try talking to her teacher, the school librarian and the children's librarian at the public library (if your's is big enough for a separate children's one). Ask them to write a list of authors/titles of advanced but appropriate books. The school librarian might be a great resource, but grill your daughter first on the kinds of books she really likes so the librarian has a starting point.
The Witch and the Wardrobe series is great, by the way.
My kids love to read also. They are all boys and they are 15, 12 (almost 13), 10. They all have been very advanced readers and are capable of reading well above their level.
We allow the oldest to read what he likes. He is a finishing his freshman year in HS and we do not censor his reading at all. We feel he is old enough to read books with some amount of violence and sexual content. I think if I found him reading anything pornographic we might need to have a talk, but regular books with sexual content are not off limits to him. He enjoys historical fiction, non fiction dealing with history sports and politics, science fiction.
The middle is nearly 13 and he loves anything funny. We really don't censor him all that much either. He loves to read anything dealing with political humor. He also likes non fiction dealing with sports and history. We really do not stop him from reading anything with mild sexual content either. Both the older boys understand the sexual content so we do not feel that there is much of a point in keeping it from them.
My youngest is 10. He loves stories and is much more into fiction than his brothers. He reads well above his reading level. He reads Carl Hiasson and Mike Lupica and other authors geared towards older kids.
Favorites of all my boys (they are boy oriented):
Artemis Fowl series
Harry Potter series
The Westing Game
Holes
Hoot
Flush
The View From Saturday
Chronicals of Narnia
Anything by Mike Lupica (Travel Team is one title)
I used to love the Anne of Green Gables series as a girl as well as Heidi. My boys don't read these. Don't discount non fiction. My boys really love non fiction. There are good kids books with fairly high reading levels on ancient civilizations, the rain forest, different animals, etc.
Depends on the child and the book selection. Dad does check the books for maturity levels, but if its ok to read or look at, I don't care if its YA or Adult if its appropriate to look at. The library can rate books all they want but I'll decide whether or not my kids can look at the things.
Sometimes the library won't let my kids check out certain books, stating an adult has to. So i check em out and hand them the books. Its up to me, not them. However, I have seen some books that are too old for them and I won't let them read them for a few years. On the same note, I won't let em get little kid books either as they need to move on from that level now.
The classics are always great and expand the vocabulary:
Jules Verne (20,000 leagues under the sea, Journey to the center of the earth...)
Peter Pan (There is a scene in the beginning with Father that just kills me with laughter every time we read it)
The Book of Virtues
G A Henty (He has a lot of adventure books that even the girls love)
The Mary Poppins series (also very funny)
The Doctor Doolittle series (very imaginitive)
Mark Twain
Of course, the newer books (Harry Potter, Eragon) have some serious issues but really got my son excited about reading. I do not recommend the Eragon series for children. There are inappropriate relations, graphic gore, dark idolatry... it is a great work for such a young kid, but I only let my son read the first book because of the direction the story goes.
The classics are always great and expand the vocabulary:
Jules Verne (20,000 leagues under the sea, Journey to the center of the earth...)
Peter Pan (There is a scene in the beginning with Father that just kills me with laughter every time we read it)
The Book of Virtues
G A Henty (He has a lot of adventure books that even the girls love)
The Mary Poppins series (also very funny)
The Doctor Doolittle series (very imaginitive)
Mark Twain
Of course, the newer books (Harry Potter, Eragon) have some serious issues but really got my son excited about reading. I do not recommend the Eragon series for children. There are inappropriate relations, graphic gore, dark idolatry... it is a great work for such a young kid, but I only let my son read the first book because of the direction the story goes.
A lot of people don't like the Dark Arts aspect of it (not me). Although its a bit scary in places for little kids, I don't have any issues with either book series.
Aside from the fear factor, I don't see what bad influence that would have on any child. Maybe they are seeing some religious satanic thing, in which case that's getting a bit out there imho.
All of my girls are very advanced readers as well and they are ages 8, 10 and 12 and will all be going up in ages soon. Books that my kids have read have been The Cronicles of Narnia, Warriors series (about cats), Inkheart trilogy, Eragon series, Double Identity by Margret Haddix, (Margret Haddix has quite a few other age appropriate books) Magic Treehouse books, Shilo, Where The Red Fern Grows, Summer of The Monkeys, Hoot, Flush, Bridge to Tarabithia (sp?) and Mother West Wind books. I bought them the A Wrinkle In Time book so that this summer they could start getting into that series. There are several other series that spin off of the Wrinkle in Time series. I'm also going to see if I can find the Never Ending Story books. I believe there is 2 or 3 books all together.
I found that books that were both interesting and age apropriate were more of the fantasy type books. (i.e. books about fairies, dragons, and elves.) You could go to Amazon.com and look up books by age and check out the AR and the RL of different books, plus read highlights about the books and people's comments.
All of my girls are very advanced readers as well and they are ages 8, 10 and 12 and will all be going up in ages soon. Books that my kids have read have been The Cronicles of Narnia, Warriors series (about cats), Inkheart trilogy, Eragon series, Double Identity by Margret Haddix, (Margret Haddix has quite a few other age appropriate books) Magic Treehouse books, Shilo, Where The Red Fern Grows, Summer of The Monkeys, Hoot, Flush, Bridge to Tarabithia (sp?) and Mother West Wind books. I bought them the A Wrinkle In Time book so that this summer they could start getting into that series. There are several other series that spin off of the Wrinkle in Time series. I'm also going to see if I can find the Never Ending Story books. I believe there is 2 or 3 books all together.
I found that books that were both interesting and age apropriate were more of the fantasy type books. (i.e. books about fairies, dragons, and elves.) You could go to Amazon.com and look up books by age and check out the AR and the RL of different books, plus read highlights about the books and people's comments.
I guess I don't worry about it so much, since the library probably wouldn't have anything too innapropriate (literal Adults Only type stuff), so I tend to be cool about what the boys pick out. I don't go to the net and research it, but I'll peruse thru the books and see if anything just pops out. Case in point: anything Anime I always red flag and look at first.
My entire family is comprised of huge readers and I've never truly censored anything for any of them. All my girls have been quite able to put down a book that they quickly deem beyond their level of comfort, interest and maturity.
My third daughter is 11 and can devour books at a rate that seems completely impossible. Her current grade level that has been 'assessed' is 11th grade.
She went through the young reader chapter books like Junie B Jones, Magic Tree House, Ramona and Amber Brown by the time she was about 7 or 8. After that she jumped squarely into science fiction/fantasy or nature/science type books.
For school she's been given books she might not have chosen otherwise like Because of Winn Dixie, How to Eat Fried Worms, Holes and Bud, Not Buddy. She's quite enjoyed all those over the years as well.
She read the first 5 Harry Potter books when she was 8 during the 6 weeks right before the 6th one came out in the summer of 2005 and then read the 6th one when it came out. She has since read Lemony Snicket, Chronicles of Narnia, Eragon and other similar books.
Currently she reads pretty exclusively from the Young Adult section as there is not much left in the Children's section that she hasn't read. Basically what she hasn't read simply doesn't interest her.
I keep an eye out for books that might have blatant sex scenes or graphic gore since that is something I'd want to discuss with her. However, she's never chosen any at that level.
My daughter's tastes aren't quite the typical young girl so things she's skipped may be things of interest to your daughter. For instance she's never read from Nancy Drew, Babysitters Club, or Cam Jansen.
My other suggestion is to check out which books are the Newberry and Caldecott winners or on the Battle of the Books lists for individual titles that may challenge her.
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) and also a Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book. Fortunately she's really honest and showed them to me to find out if she was allowed to read them.
