Book Recommendations Gifted Readers Grades 4-6

[Nancy Bosch]

I noticed the book recommendation discussion posted by Carolyn Foote (over at Classroom 2.0) so I thought I'd throw out another challenge---I need novels for gifted readers (grades 4-6; reading levels 7-12+) There are several issues:
1. The books have to be recently released or the kids will have already read them
2. The content needs to be appropriate but the themes can be mature
3. They love read aloud books that contain clues, intrigue or historical connections

We've read some wonderful novels in our book studies in the last three years--- this is from my blog:

We started with Eragon by Christopher Paolini. The book isn't great but was written by a 15 year old ( my point was that if a 15 year old could write a best seller, you could too) --kids loved it and the sequel Eldest. It's become a cult favorite and we are awaiting the 3rd installment, Brisngr in September. We went as a group to see the movie when it came out.

We then read Chasing Vermeer and The Wright 3 by Blue Balliett. I love the "daVinci Code" type books for kids---books with clues, intrigue and historical connection. I wrote curriculum for both these books. Kids love Airborn by Kenneth Oppel. It's in the Steampunk genre, according to one of my sons. They also loved the sequel Skybreaker. We did an online book discussion of Airborn, you can find the questions here. Look under the Moodle icon and use baguest as username and password.

Last spring we read The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick which has the historical connection to invention of movies. It is a brilliant book, half of the 580 pages are illustrations but not in a typical format. The illustrations tell the story---like a graphic novel. The problem with this book is that everybody has to have a book---not a good read a loud. I did not write a curriculum for it but easily could have.

I have several others I haven't used yet. Endymoin Spring by Matthew Skelton has the history of books as its back plot. The end is a little weak, but I'm going to use it eventually. I haven't read Valley of Secrets by Charmain Hussey yet--but plan to. It is wrapped up in the rain forest fauna and flora.

My 4th graders read Peter and the Starcatchers last fall. (I thought it was OK, kids loved it) Currently my 4th graders are reading The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Stewart and they love it, too.

Anybody else have any fabulous suggestions? Thanks in advance, N.

cross posted at Classroom 2.0

[ceego]

Nancy,

Wish I could be of help with your query, but I am a newbie to the GT teaching world.

I was wondering though, how long is your average lit unit with your kids? I loved your Chasing Vermeer curriculum! Thanks for sharing the links.

Thanks.
Ceego

[Nancy Bosch]

I teach in a pullout program so the kids are here one day a week. Sometimes it will take a whole semester to read a book. If I can't get enough copies of a book through the district's interlibrary loan I ask the students to buy the book, I think it holds their attention when each kiddo has a copy. We also do online book discussions and it helps if each child has a copy to refer to. Sometimes buying the book is neccessary because the books are so new. I loved Chasing Vermeer and The Wright 3 because of the historical connection--perfect for a gifted class. The books were not the "best" we've read and I was disappointed in The Wright 3. We did a huge wiki project (our first) with The Wright 3 and the kids loved it.

Another great book I forgot to mention was City of Ember---let me know if I can help you in anyway. N.

[Ginger Lewman]

Oh, you know I love the classics, so I'm not much help. Judy D on here is a good resource. Also, so's Bob Seney (also on here).

Finally, the William Allen White Awards does a good job of picking good, modern books. I'm partial to them since that's where we're from! ;-)

[Melissae Stiles]

Okay, I was going to recommend Mysterious Benedict Society, but I see you have it listed. I would poll your students on the Classics because I'm surprised at times about what they haven't read. For instance, none of my students (6th grade) had read A Wrinkle in Time and only one had read Where the Red Fern Grows.

I keep saying this but I LOVE The Lightning Thief (and its two sequels). This book comes with a very excellent teacher's guide developed by author himself. It's one of the best teacher's guides I've seen. http://www.rickriordan.com/Teacher_Guide_to_Percy.htm.


Another one I liked was Under the Blood Red Sun (has language) and I think you would really like Gawgon and the Boy by Lloyd Alexander. It is an autobiography of sorts. It has four short story within a story where the main character pretends he's someone in history and relives their lives (Napoleon, Perseus, Sherlock Holmes, Pirate (can't remember which one).

[Nancy Bosch]

Thanks you two---I have to laugh. I wrote a blog entry last summer called "I Don't Like the Classics". I like the idea and I think kids need to read them and many of my kids do--no doubt there are great things to be learned from The Count of Monte Christo, Black Beauty, Little Women, etc but they are really hard to slog through, especially when reading aloud. I guess I'm just a contemporary kinda gal!

I have read Wrinkle in Time, Secret Garden and Phantom Tollooth with kids--but enjoy contemporary titles more. All the kids have read Lightening Thief, so it is out. I'll check out the other two--Gawgon and the Boy sounds like it might lend itself to some great historical connections.

My hardest read aloud ever? During a mystery unit several years ago, I read Murders in the Rue Morgue OUT LOUD---three times in the same week to different groups of kids!! It took almost an hour and a half to read it, but the kids loved it.

Let me know if you think of anything else.

[Becky L]

For read-aloud books I often pick old or even out-of-print books to avoid the already read it problem. We actually have copies of one out-of-print book, James Printer: A Novel of Rebellion, that we have all the 4th graders read (I'm at a gifted school, so they are all gifted.) It's historic novel based on a real person, set during King Philip's War, between the Pilgrims landing and the French and Indian War. King Philip's War was a very nasty war between the English colonists in Massachusetts and the local Native Americans. It's a very dark book, but sparks great discussions of fairness, loyalty, and who is "civilized." We got our out-of-print books from Amazon for not much money.
I also love the classics. We had our 4th graders all pick a classic to read independently one month this year. They read Heidi, The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, Tom Sawyer, Stuart Little, and one particularly advanced girl read Jane Eyre and loved it.

[Judy Dreeszen]

I haven't been on this website for quite some time, and I have missed some great discussions. Several of the books you mentioned, I too have read. I don't remember seeing the book Shakespeare's Secret on anybody's list. Several of my students have read it and really liked it. Unfortunately, due to my time with students, I can't go any further with it. However, if I had more time I would certainly look at reading some parts of Shakespeare (probably not a whole play) but some segments. Also, one of my students wanted to know about the quote that is used from a poem. So I thought I would look that up. It also hits on the fact that maybe Shakespeare didn't actually write the plays so there's another area people could talk about. I also haven't had much time to read any new things due to my schedule. But one other book that I am enjoying with a 7th grade student is entitled Elephant Run. It takes place in Burma during WW II. The student and I talked about the fact that we know how WW II affected us but not in Burma.

[Nancy Bosch]

Judy, Thanks for the suggestions. I was thrilled when I saw Shakespeare's Secret several summers ago--I snatched it up and read it in a day. I was disappointed at the level of intrigue (none) and historical connection (very little) in the book. I wanted to use it as a lead in to Shakespeare's work---but it just didn't happen.

The latest series that has my 5th-6th gifted girls hopping up and down is The Uglies, The Pretties, The Specials, and The Extras by Scott Westerfeld. The girls have just started this week reading the Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray. We'll see how they like that.

[Kevin_K]

My son's 6th grade drama class will be reading both Hamlet and Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, after they've finished their play production for the year (their own adaptation of The Stinky Cheese Man). If I'm reading the calendar right, they'll be covering the two plays in 6 one-hour classes (maybe one less---I took out a class for testing, but not for other end-of-year activities).

[Kevin_K]

The drama class didn't do either Hamlet or R&G are Dead---they went off in a different direction entirely. Too bad, as it looked like a good unit.

[Melissae Stiles]

My sixth graders and I read Shakespeare's Secret and Shakespeare Stealer as comparison novels. It worked out great because Stealer backed up evidence of Shakespeare being the author and Secret gave evidence of DeVere being the author. Very fun...

[Judy Dreeszen]

Is Shakespeare Stealer written by Gary Blackwood? My 5th grade students are loving the book. However, this is my problem. There are some really good books out there, but to be honest, I can't find books that are challenging for my 5th and 6th graders. I used the Pretties as a freshman book club selection in past years. I am glad to know that some of you have used it for 5th & 6th graders.
I also want to know what you opinion is of the series The Golden Compass. I was given this name by several people a couple years ago and had a hard time getting into it. Then this fall I received an email talking about the series. I decided that I would probably not recommend the series because of the issues. however, I have a student who was reading it and wanted to discuss it. I decided he had opened the door so we have just finished the second one and I am giving my opinions and beliefs about the book. I really do have concerns with the book, but was wondering how other people were handling the book.