Gifted Child - Help!

[user1483721421]

Hi everyone,
I have a daughter who will be 9 in April, she was placed on the Gifted and Talented Register in Reception because of her reading, writing and Maths.
Unfortunately as a result of my son's death in 2014 we had to change her schools because of where we lived, the school she is at now do not have a Gifted and Talented Register and are one of the laziest schools I have met.
At all parents evenings previously we were told what an amazing student she is, how she is so far ahead of the rest of the class and she is getting bored. It is resulting in her trying to help other children because she has completed all of her own work and is not getting any further work.

This is far from a post for me to brag or comment on my daughter's achievements, it is more of a plea!

We recently took her to Kip McGrath to have her assessed and see if any extra tuition will keep her motivated and bring her education up to the level she is already working at. She was assessed to be working at Year 9 level (she is in Year 4) for Reading, Writing and Comprehension and end of Year 5 for her Maths (we knew her Maths had suffered more than her English since changing schools). She is extremely eager to get started at Kip McGrath, however, I am looking for some help with reading books. She is very mature (following her brothers hospital stay and death she has grown up a lot) but is still very innocent with regards boys etc. I am looking for some suggestions of reading books suitable for a 9 Year old (topic wise) but difficult enough for a 14 year old.

Please help!! (She reads an average 150-200 page book in 2 days so I would be extremely grateful for plenty of suggestions!)

Thank you in advance.

Oh, also Daphne du Maurier - House on the Strand

I loved Watership Down at that age. It's got a new language and mythology in there, along with some quite complicated concepts. Pretty gritty though!

At that age we used to take my DS, a real book worm to Waterstones and they would ask him what he li,ed and suggest books accordingly. He used to love it. He read the Harry Potter books at least three times by the time he was 11, and tried what is supposed to be the adult series to see if there was a difference.

Also, Skulduggery Pleasant, alex Rider, percy Jackson, any Michael Morphurgo. Will have to look at his bookshelves for more ideas.

My only other thought is that the books do t have to stretch her, keeping the reading for pleasure is most important.

I absolutely loved Heidi at that age...maybe a little younger - but nothing wrong with reading comforting books. I read it again recently and still loved it and am nearly 40 now

Also Anne of Green Gables.

The Secret Garden, A Little Princess were my absolute faves.

My DS is similar - very advanced reader from an early age but he's still only little (he's 8) and can't cope with scary books or books where important people die. He's recently really enjoyed The Hobbit and Pippi Longstocking but mostly prefers non-fiction.

The Dark is Rising is amazing but quite scary.

I've got an 8yo advanced reader, she's the classic 'read Harry Potter in Reception' child that tends to annoy people on MN. Anyway, over Christmas she's been reading:

• Murder Most Unladylike
• What Katy Did (and sequels)
• Little Women (and sequels)
• Roman Mysteries series
• Chalet School (whatever I can find, unfortunately not available on kindle)
• Emily series by LM Montgomery
• the more obscure Noel Streatfeild books
• a load of too-easy books from the library that take her less than an hour, but we go most weeks and she enjoys them
• re-reading Lemony Snicket, Arthur Ransome, Percy Jackson

I don't know if any of that would be new for your daughter? I'm lucky to have been similar as a child, plus we have an excellent children's librarian at our local library, so between the two of us we usually come up with some new stuff for her. I'd say that the older books really challenge her because the vocabulary and context is so different, without exposing her to 'teen' stuff that she's just nowhere near ready for.

Also, does your daughter re-read? I encouraged dd to do so, as it's the only way to keep her stocked up, and she gets a lot out of coming back to books she read a year or so ago.

Oh, and someone recommended the Laura Ingalls Wilder books - do be careful, the fourth (?) one (The Long Winter) is scary and the family nearly starves to death while others have enough to eat, we've avoided that one.

I was a huge reader. I read all the Nancy Drews i could, would they work? (Not read one in years so can't remember how mature they were)
I also started on fantasy young, some can be very adult (so caution needed!) but others aren't, my absolute favourite (still now) is Robert Jordan's wheel of time series. It might be a bit too scary in places, though - some authors do do young adult fantasy (diana Wynne Jones??) and Brandon Sanderson too. How about Terry Pratchett? Could start with his kids ones first to see if she likes the style (amazing Maurice and his educated rodents).

Dd was similar at that age, on g&t register, I kind of wish I had pushed more or looked at scholarships but due to he struggling socially ( preferring boys company over girls ) I felt a private same sex school would ruin her, she's now 13 and is doing well at high school but is not top of the class like she was in primary school, she's still doing amazingly well with English/grammar and is in top sets for all subjects but she has become a little lazy and doesn't push herself.

Books she liked to read were mainly fantasy books and she still prefers these types of book despite me trying to get her to read a range of books;

Percy Jackson
Hunger games (she was a bit older when she read these)
Dragonology
Harry Potter (has been read to death)
Micheal morpurgo
Lord of the rings, the hobbit etc...
Maze runner
Some of the terry pratchet books

Thank you for everybody's suggestions so far!
I've just ordered her about 25 books from The Book People, including the Cathy Cassidy books as well as the Geek Girl collection and also Carol Vorderman's books on Computer Coding, hopefully them and the other books will keep her busy for a few weeks!!

Thank you :)

GieryFas,

Thank you for your suggestions, there's a few there I haven't heard of so will definitely be looking into these!

I sympathise with you, I cannot understand why people are so intimidated/frustrated by children doing well and parents being proud! When did it become 'more' acceptable for a parent to be proud of and publicise that their child has learning difficulties?

I am NOT saying a parent of a child with learning difficulties shouldn't be proud of their child, every parent should be proud of their child, I simply cannot understand why that is acceptable, but a parent should hide their child's talent because it could offend others!? It is extremely unfair and completely explains why gifted children feel isolated and frustrated!

My 9yo has just finished His Dark Materials, Little Women and The Water Babies. She's (as I type) reading a fantasy series called the Wheel Of Time.

Consider poetry too. And plays. DD is just getting into Shakespeare but also likes more modern stuff. She also enjoys Alan Bennett and travel literature.