Twenty One Balloons

Author:  William Pene Dubois
Lexile measure: 1070
Bottom line:  We loved it.  Despite the high Lexile, it was an engaging read.
Language:  Acceptable.
Violence:  Volcanic eruption.  There is mention of shooting and murder, but not a big part of the story at all.  You could easily gloss over this, especially if reading aloud.
Big Kid Mature Topics:   Greed, money, jewels.  Multiculturalism.
Illustrations:  Black and white shaded drawings, every few pages.
Plot:  moderately complex.

Wow.  What a great book!  Balloons, a mysterious tropical island filled with diamonds, a volcanic explosion, cool inventions--this is a really fun adventure book, but without the violence of most of the adventure genre.  I took this out of the library for myself to read, but my daughter (again!) got it before me and she devoured it and loved it!

Encyclopedia Brown Cracks the Case

Author:  Daniel Sobol
Lexile measure: 750
Bottom line:  These books are about a crime solver, which might bother your child.
Language:  Mild name calling.
Violence:  There is no violent crime in this book, but there is bullying consisting of locking people up, calling names, and initimidation.
Big Kid Mature Topics:   Crime, such as stealing, cheating, faking/forgery.  Almost every case involves lying/deception.  Bullying/gangs.  Big kids picking on little kids.
Illustrations:  Black and white shaded drawings, every few pages.
Plot:  complex.  Each chapter stands alone.

I found this mildly entertaining, but my daughter said that the lying bothered her a lot.  I got this because I thought it would engage her sense of deductive reasoning, but I'm not really sure that these short stories really do that.  Most of the cases hinge on an obscure fact that you either know, or don't know.  But, if you've run out of Nate the Great stories, these are ok, and the vocabulary is definitely more advanced.

Nonfiction, the other part of the library, part 4

Books on manners and social skills are a very mixed bag.  On the one hand, many gifted children struggle with social skills and it helps to spell social rules out to them.  On the other hand many of the books we found in our public library on this subject were dry and uninteresting.  Its probably easier to address manners and social skills with role playing (come one, let's put those stuffed animals or (gasp!) Barbie or (gasp!)  Disney Princesses to good use here)  or while reading story books.  We actually like Ni Hao Ki-lan (I know, its not even close to classic literature) and Mo Willems picture books for addressing age appropriate social skills.

Reading about technology can be fun.  Transportation and construction are great favorites in our house, as well as very easy to apply to real life. My kids could sit for hours watching the houses hit by last year's hailstorm be fixed, and now they know all about it, too.  Grown up books on home repair might seem pretty benign but watch out for the magazines (like Handy Magazine)--they are targeted toward macho men and sometimes have advertisements for um... man stuff (hey, this is a G-rated blog, ok?)

Nonfiction, the other part of the library, part 3

Today we are tackling history and biography.

Reading history with a young child is plus/minus.  On the one hand, we've read many books about people in historic settings.  On the other hand, well, there's probably lots of things that very young children just won't understand or won't be interested in.  This isn't the place I go to first, but if it relates to something else we're reading it can be really great.  Also, books with lots of pictures and lots of text boxes (rather than paragraph after paragraph of text), like the DK eyewitness books, can let your reader expand his/her knowledge at his or her own pace.  A word of warning--if you do go for the Renaissance, remember they were very into the study of the human body (i.e. naked people).   My youngest is still in diapers, so naked people is sort of an everyday occurrence here, but it might not in your house, so just be aware!

Biography is very tricky. At this age, I would probably shy away from most biography, simply because most people who become important enough for a biography are grown ups by the time they are that important and grown ups deal with a lot of grown up issues that are not appropriate for young kids to be exposed to.  This is especially true of biographies that are "thick" enough to be challenging.  Even picture books can contain material that may not be suitable for very young children, especially if they are going to read unsupervised. I am not saying biography is a bad genre, even for this age group, its just not the kind of thing you can pull of the shelf and say its fine.  You've got to really read it through and some of us don't have time to do that before the book is read (i.e. on the way home from the library!).

Nate the Great and the Boring Beach Bag

Author:  Marjorie Sharmat
Lexile measure: 360
Language:  Acceptable.  One page of text in cursive.
Violence:  None.
Big Kid Mature Topics:   One of the characters is sort of witch-like--she dresses in dark clothes, is strange, and has black cats named different variations of "Hex".  I don't think the series as a whole really glamorizes witchcraft, though.
Illustrations:  Black and white shaded drawings, every few pages.
Plot:  complex.

DD left this one alone.  Not sure if she read and finished it on the way home from the library, or if she saw it was a "boy's book" and left it alone.  This series is a nice one even if you have an advanced reader because the mystery part forces them to think and deduce, not just read.  Its not great literature, but among books in its reading level, it stands out as being able to tell some pretty original stories with limited vocabulary.  These aren't books I'd get to keep, but we definitely look for them in the library on a regular basis.

The Tale of Despereaux

Author:  Kate DiCamillo
Lexile measure: 670
Language:  Mild swearing.  One of the bad mice repeatedly says "Cripes".
Violence:  Both mice and men are sent to the dungeon to rot/die.  A child is sold into slavery and physically abused.   She is then duped into kidnapping, which she accomplishes with the help of a knife.   She also uses a knife to cut the tail off of a mouse.  The main character uses a needle like a sword.  The rats kill the jailer by cutting the rope that helps him find his way out of the dungeon.
Big Kid Mature Topics:  Revenge.
Illustrations:  Black and white shaded drawings, every few pages.
Plot:  moderately complex.

Well, this was one of those books that showed up on a gifted kid book list and my daughter got it before I could read it.  I was deeply sorry because this book has a lot in it that I really did not want her to experience yet.  She really loved the story.

I can see how this book would be good for older gifted children.  A precocious reader will find a lot to identify with in this story.  The main character teaches himself to read, just like that, and people think he's strange because he reads and loves books.

I've hidden this one away for later.

The Cricket in Times Square

Author: George Selden
Lexile measure: 780
Language:  Acceptable, no swear words, no potty language.
Violence:  The cricket envisions a mouse friend getting caught by a cat, but the cat ends up being the mouse's best friend and doesn't do anything to him.  The friends get caught in a fire very briefly, but without getting hurt.
Big Kid Mature Topics:  Immigration and culture.  There is an entire 2 chapters devoted to a character who speaks in broken English.  Worries about money. Smoking.
Illustrations:  Black and white line drawings, every few pages.
Plot:  moderately complex.

My daughter really likes this book and I do too.  Its sweet, but not saccharin.  Not too deep for a kid to understand, but not superficial.  It would be a good read for all but the most sensitive of readers.  The writing is clean and the story is good.  There is some interesting specialized vocabulary about music that might need explaining for the very young child.  You could always make another trip to the library and get out some CD's!  Apparently this is one of a series, as well.

Companion media:  CDs on Italian opera--card catalog search "Aida" and "Torna a Surriento"

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Author:  Roald Dahl
Lexile measure: 600
Language:  No swear words, but some of the villains do get awfully close with name calling.
Violence:  The villains carry guns to shoot Mr. Fox and his friends if they see him but they never actually kill anyone.
Big Kid Mature Topics:  drunkeness in some of the villains.  Stealing on the part of animals.  The text of the book justifies stealing by animals--they do it to be able to eat.  The villains are caricatured almost to the point of not counting as sentient beings, though this is not stated overtly.
Illustrations:  Varies according to the edition.
Plot:  moderately complex.

As with many of Dahl's books, this book is somewhat dark in nature.  While I think the writing in this book justifies its status as a classic, there is a lot of moral content that is much more suited to an older, grade school reader.  My daughter read this a couple of times, but it wasn't a favorite--but she's the kind who loves to protect living things (even weeds and bugs!) whether or not they are destructive.

Does early reading cause eye damage?

My daughter had her opthalmologist appointment today.  We posed the question, "Could reading at such an early age cause eye damage?"  The answer was, "There is no need to fear any permanent damage to the eyes caused by reading small print at an early age."

Younger children do tend to be somewhat far sighted, meaning they have to use their eye muscles more to focus on print near to their face, but not all young children are far sighted and even those who are are usually mildly so.  So, reasonable amounts of novel reading should not cause a problem.  Excessive reading may cause temporary eye strain.  I remember this well as a child.  However, the headache always went away after I put the book down for a while.  I am very myopic, but the eye doctor assured me, it is not from reading.

Should I buy a Tag Reader for my precocious reader?

We got a Tag Reader a while ago as a present.  By that time, my daughter was already reading novels independently, so we were skeptical and even contemplated returning it.  But as it turns out, it is one of her favorite toys.  She probably plays 3 or 4 times a week.

Now, we did skip the phonics books entirely.    I don't hear my daughter using the reading function very often, but the games in the game books are less stimulating than video games and still encourage interaction with books, and the maps are really fun.   The pen is nice for encouraging proper pencil grasp.  My child already  knew the states and the planets pretty well, but the Tag maps make for fun review.  She doesn't think its boring at all.  I usually have to forcibly pry the pen from her hand when her 30 minutes are up. 

Be aware, they do eat up batteries (buy replacements with your reader) and if you do happen to buy the maps, they don't come with the reader unless you specifically buy a bundle package.  The Tag reader does work with Tag Junior books, but I've heard the reverse is not true.

Nonfiction, the other part of the library, part 2

For sensitive readers, science topics can be great ways to build vocabulary in a nonthreatening way.    

Books about plants are usually very safe--no violence there, unless you get books about carnivorous plants.  Books about animals are also very appealing to children, but you do have be aware of sections on ...ahem... reproduction--you might look for "mating" in the index as a quick screen.  Even if its not all that disturbing to you to have your child know about mating in corals (they never touch, they just release their gametes into the water), you might not want them talking ad nauseum in public about mating, finding a mate, and related topics.   Also, some animals are carnivores and sometimes photos of killing can be gory and disturbing to some kids.  Also, be aware that books about baby animals may have pictures of messy births, not just cute fuzzy animals.  

Physics and earth science can be interesting and fun. Topics like electricity, rocks/minerals, fossils, water/hydrology, weather, and space can be very appealing to young children.  Also, many books have experiments you can do at home, which may also get your little bookworm off the couch and doing something besides reading.

Ruby Lu: Empress of Everything

Author:  Lenore Look
Lexile measure: 600-650
Language:  Acceptable, no swear words, no potty language.  Mild name calling regarding a person's immigration status( "alien").
Violence:  One of the main character's is said to have fallen off a roof and burst her head (or eardrums, depending on which character's account you want to believe) whereby she has become deaf.  After the name calling, the main character "jumps" on the name caller and gets sent to the principal's office.  She confesses she was wrong.
Big Kid Mature Topics:  Immigration and culture (several characters are newly immigrated Cantonese).  At one point the narrator mentions that Chinese squat on the potty--if your kid likes to try emulate characters in books, this might not be safe on a Western potty.  School performance/summer school.  At one point, the main character hides a note from school, but she gets caught and faces the consequences.
Illustrations:  Black and white line drawings, every few pages.
Plot:  moderately complex.

My daughter is in the middle of this one.  She says she likes Magic Schoolbus better, but I think this has far superior fiction writing.  The topics might not be of interest since a lot revolves around friendships, school status, and stuff the grade school kids do, though I don't think its out of reach for a 4 or 5 year old.  Maybe it would be pretty boring for a 2 or 3 year old.  I still thought it was on the level with Judy Moody and Ramona, and funny, too.  I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

101 Dalmations

Author:  Dodie Smith
Lexile measure: 830
Language:  Acceptable, no swear words, no potty language.
Violence: Cruella wants to make the puppies into a fur coat.  She has the puppies kidnapped.   One dog bites a human (a bad guy).  The dogs destroy the de Vil's collection of furs.  There is no actual gore except for the dog bite.
Big Kid Mature Topics:  Cruella is devilish and creepy/scary.  There is a lot of talk of revenge.  Also, the dogs question the humanity of evil humans.  The two female dogs nurse the puppies.
Illustrations:  Black and white shaded drawings, every few pages.  Some are mildly creepy.
Plot:  moderately complex.

I didn't like this book.  Its definitely a book just for kids.  I found that the characters in general were oversimplified and just not that interesting.  DeVil?  Come on.   A small child wouldn't notice, but a sensitive adult might possibly choke.  Then again, I'm not sure this is small child material because of the part about making dogs into fur coats.  I got this out for our 100th day of school, but I don't think I'll be using it this year.

Nonfiction--the other part of the library part 1

One part of the library that is easily underutilized is the nonfiction section.  Some of the best books for your young reader may be "hidden" there. 

Fairy tales are classic children's favorites to which no young reader should lack exposure.  Some fairy tales can be very gory (e.g. Red Riding Hood), but many children don't really seem to mind so long as the illustrations are not gory and the author doesn't dwell on the gore.  Many fairy tales also contain things like witches, goblins, even demons, but they are almost always the scary bad guy/gir, which is different from some literature where such creatures are cast as protagonists.  And of course, there are fairies and magic involved.  The tales themselves are not usually long, but they often come in sizable collections and the vocabulary is usually fairly advanced, which makes them a nice challenge.  And don't forget Mother Goose--an excellent introduction to archaic vocabulary.  Do you know what a tuffet is?  (Look it up on dictionary.com!)

There are countless folktales from other cultures which are fun, usually beautifully illustrated, and usually off the beaten path.   Sometimes you do have to be aware of conflicting worldviews or religious perspectives, especially with folktales from parts of the world where your worldview/religion is not prevalent.    You should be aware that like fairy tales, these can be quite gory at times, so skim beforehand if your child is sensitive or you just don't want to introduce that yet.   In our house, these kinds of stories often provoke interesting discussions and are usually read and re-read, despite being "thin" picture books!

Anne of Green Gables

Author:  L.M. Montgomery
Lexile measure: not given, probably about 900-1050
Language: Appropriate
Violence: Anne hits Gilbert over the head with a slate when he calls her "carrots" (red hair) at school.
Big Kid Mature Topics:  Anne leads the life of a not so well treated servant girl after being orphaned as a baby.  Some small ones might find her story upsetting.  Also, she gets her best friend drunk (by accident).  There is some hinting at romance between Anne and a boy, Gilbert, but I think a young reader might easily mistake this for friendship.  Gossip.  Anne also nearly drowns.
Plot:  complex.
Illustrations:  none, though I have seen some editions with things elaborate as the occassional color picture.

I wasn't going to include this but dear daughter broke into my bookshelf and got the whole series out!!!  She insists she likes the pictures on the cover, but I have overheard her reading and know better.  This is what happens when you don't get enough books out at the library, right?   Although she can read it, I honestly think this series will be better appreciated when she gets older.  Also, if you do buy the entire set, be aware that Anne quickly grows up and most of the books have a romantic story line somewhere.

Flat Stanley

Author:  Jeff Brown
Lexile measure: 640
Language: Mild swearing--"darndest" and "gosh"; and mild rude language (Leave it to Beaver style) which is labeled as such.
Violence:  A blackboard falls on Stanley to make him flat.  A central part of several of the chapters is stopping the theft of a piece of art.
Big Kid Mature Topics:  Stanley gets dressed as a girl for part of a disguise.  He doesn't like it.  Sibling rivalry.
Illustrations:   Frequent black and white shaded drawings
Plot:  simple.

I don't know what it was, but my girl just wasn't very entertained by this.  She read it maybe 2 or 3 times and then didn't touch it again.  Not sure if it was part of the "I only read books about girls" phase or what, but now I think its "not thick enough", as she is wont to phrase it.    DS likes it a lot, at age 2 1/2.  Its an interesting plot for a piece at this reading level, with fairly few objectionable elements.  It does come as a series, which we have not read, but which is a benefit if your child likes this and is a voracious reader.  My understanding is that the series is also not one of those where the main character becomes significantly more mature over time, so I don't think you'll end up with a lot of "mature" reader issues that you have to do a lot of censorship/explaining over.

Pippi Longstocking

Author:  Astrid Lindgren
Lexile measure: 870
Language:  No swear words, no potty language.  Pippi uses language disrespectful to adults (teachers, police) regularly throughout the book.
Violence:  None, except for the implication that Pippi's father is lost at sea
Big Kid Mature Topics:  See above.
Plot:   complex.  I think most chapters could be read independently of each other (not all), but I do not think doing so will help you avoid most of the issues above.

This book is rolickingly fun.  All the stuff that you wish you could do as a kid--eat candy, skip school, live by yourself without any adults to tell you what to do.  My daughter really liked this book, but in all good conscience, I could not finish reading it to her.  I really felt like my daughter did not need to read something that glorified the mocking of authority so blatantly. Some children may find the idea that she is an orphan very scary.

Babe

Author:  Dick King-Smith
Lexile measure: 1040
Language:  No swear words, no potty language.  The words "dumb" and "stupid" are used to describe some animals, but its made plentifully clear that these words should not have been used.
Violence:  The fact that pigs are turned into food is central to the plot.  This might be scary to some sensitive kids.  The sheep get "worried" by dogs  used by a sheep rustler and the dogs actually kill a sheep that Babe is particularly close to.   There is blood involved in that particular scene.
Big Kid Mature Topics:  Some of the animals have prejudicial ideas about other animals.  I'm not sure many kids would make the leap to apply this to humans, though.  Its not really that kind of a story.
Plot:  moderately complex

Despite the Lexile measure, this book is a much simpler read (and certainly shorter) than Charlotte's Web.  It may be one of the first real chapter books we read to our daughter.  We don't read it much any more, which  I suspect is because its "too short", which is a shame because it is a fun book to read aloud, especially if you like to do accents!