April 1st, 2006
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| Author: | Louise Fitzhugh |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | Fiction, girl heroine |
| Year of publication: | 1964 |
My daughter initially resisted reading this book because the movie made such an awful impression on her. But she really enjoyed this story of a girl who "wants to know EVERYTHING" and gets into deep trouble for writing down what she knows. |
Interesting slice-of-life of mostly upper-middle class children at school and play in Manhattan in the nineteen-fifties.
The sequel, Harriet the Spy: The Long Secret gets into all sorts of complicated topics such as menstruation, abusive-parenting, and the public expression of religious beliefs that my daughter did not find as compelling. |
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Harriet the Spy |
Posted in Conceptual: 8 and up, Dealing with bullies, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Reading level: age 8 and up | Comments Closed
April 1st, 2006
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| Author: | Alexandre Dumas |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | Fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1844 |
Gifted guy takes his devastating revenge. |
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Count of Monte Cristo,The |
Posted in Conceptual: age 12 and up, Dealing with bullies, Death is a central theme, Fiction, Gifted, History, Reading level: age 12 and up | Comments Closed
April 1st, 2006
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| Author: | Helen DeWitt |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups
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| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups
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| Genre: | Fiction, parenting |
| Year of publication: | 2000 |
This hilarious novel starts as a not-quite-five year old's mother gets so sick of answering his questions that she promises to teach him Japanese after he's read the Odyssey in the original Greek. Which he does. Should be required reading for parents of gifted toddlers, but parents of gifted toddlers probably wouldn't have the time.
An excerpt. |
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Last Samurai, The |
Posted in Conceptual: for grown ups, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Reading level: Grown up | Comments Closed
April 1st, 2006
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| Author: | Lisa Yee |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2003 |
A must-read for gifted girls, especially those in middle school or grade-skipped into high school.
Eleven-year old Millicent Min will be a senior in high school in the fall, but at the beginning of the summer we read about, she is teacher's pet in a community college poetry class and students ranging in age from high school age through college take advantage of her as a tutor but don't treat her as a friend. "Sooo sad!", my 10 year old sighs, empathetically.
Lisa Yee claims to not have skipped five grades in school, but she certainly understands what many of the issues that might confront a sensitive, gifted, 11-year old high school senior might be. |
The plot is NOT what makes this book so good. Even my daughter, who is usually not keen to guess plot twists, figured out early on what many would be. (And said, "foreshadowing".) No matter -- the characters are spot-on.
My daughter rated this a 4 out of 5, but that was because, "it ended".
An interesting thread of questions it raised for her started with "Is there such a thing as an average IQ?", proceeded to "And how do you know what someone's IQ is?", to "Do you know MY IQ?", to "What IS my IQ?".... |
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Millicent Min, Girl Genius |
Posted in Conceptual: 8 and up, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Reading level: age 8 and up | Comments Closed
March 25th, 2006
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Author: Martin Booth
Not physically fat, but it is fat in ideas.
The gentle words of the plot quietly convey both the great good and the unspeakable, unthinking evil that humans do to each other.
The story of an innocent British citizen who is freed after laboring for 25 years in a Soviet gulag. By the time Alexander Bayliss leaves the gulag, he does not forgive and does not forget, but accepts that good and bad can come to all people for no reason. This is a great book to read in times of sorrow.
Other deep books for sophisticated but young readers
Posted in Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, Fiction, History, Reading level: age 8 and up | Comments Closed
March 25th, 2006
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| Author: | Jerry Spinelli |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2000 |
An amazing fiction book that confronts the issue of a gifted child trying to fit in. My 10 yo and I loved this
VERY sad but VERY funny and VERY true novel. We read it to each other this summer, alternating chapters, and every time
my older daughter caught us, she'd hang out and listen.
Stargirl is a brilliant and highly eccentric high school girl.
The novel is written in the narrative voice of the boy who loves Stargirl with and for all her eccentricities and yet despite himself wants her to fit in at school so he can fit in too. |
As this book points out, to a great extent, being eccentric is a choice and it does have a profound
influence on how other students treat one. OTOH, NOT being eccentric can really isolate a person from herself.
Other books about gifted children |
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Stargirl |
Posted in Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, Dealing with bullies, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Reading level: age 8 and up | Comments Closed
March 25th, 2006
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| Author: | Stephanie S. Tolan |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2002 |
Joyous, involving story about a family of stereotypically gifted but stereotypically self-involved Artistes and the stereotypically Troubled Youth who benefits by becoming swept up in their passionate pursuit of Art.
Stephanie Tolan takes wonderful advantage of the fact that we all know the Sound of Music so well we can hear
the music in our heads, and those stereotypical personality types move the story along
efficiently and with great humor. The characters themselves know they are stereotypical; and their self-awareness is one of the things that saves them and the story.
Not a great book, but one we are very glad to have read.
We particularly LOVED the way butterflies weave the various plot elements together.
Excellent portrayal of the joys of homeschooling.
-- Emily Berk |
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Surviving the Applewhites |
Posted in Animals, Child-raising, Conceptual: 8 and up, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Homeschool, Reading level: age 8 and up | Comments Closed
March 25th, 2006
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| Author: | Ray Bradbury |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | Fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1951 |
Spooky stories; just in case the child is thinking of getting a tatoo... |
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Illustrated Man, The
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Spooky stories; just in case the child is thinking of getting a tattoo…
I am not actually a Ray Bradbury fan. Not saying that every new technology is worth using, but Bradbury’s anti-technology bias oppresses me.
Posted in Conceptual: age 12 and up, Fiction, Reading level: age 12 and up, Science Fiction | Comments Closed
March 25th, 2006
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| Author: | Isaac Asimov |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | Science fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1950 |
One of the milestones of science fiction. The three rules of robotics are still relevant today. |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: I, Robot |
Posted in Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, Fiction, Reading level: age 8 and up, Science Fiction | Comments Closed
March 25th, 2006
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| Author: | Nicholson Baker |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Sophisticated readers |
| Genre: | Fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2003 |
One of the best books "about nothing" that we've ever come across.
A gentle family man describes his philosophy of life in a diary format. |
Features highly opinionated disquisitions on topics such as:- The best way to scrub an encrusted pan in the morning in the dark and make sure it's clean.
- The progression of a fever.
- The best ways to pick up a pair of underwear with your bare toes.
Will make you want a pet duck.
Suitable for: Mature high school level readers (others are likely to be bored out of their minds rather than amused) and adults.
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Box Full of Matches, A |
Posted in Conceptual: for grown ups, Fiction, Reading level: Grown up | Comments Closed
