Gifted Children and Adults: Finding a Community discussion

Welcome to the "Gifted Children and Adults: Finding a Community" Goodreads group! What (or who?) brings you here?

Hi, I am a writer and a mother of two young bookworms. Reading about gifted kids has helped me so much in my parenting journey. I'm interested in books about gifted issues and I'm looking for great books for my children, DD7 and DS10. It can be so hard to find appropriate materials for their reading levels given their sensitivity and even their emotional intelligence lag.
DD7 just grade skipped and I volunteer with her class at the library. I love helping children find great books.

Danielle wrote: "Hi, I am a writer and a mother of two young bookworms. Reading about gifted kids has helped me so much in my parenting journey. I'm interested in books about gifted issues and I'm looking for great..."

I feel the same way as you Danielle about finding appropriate materials. DD6 is a voracious reader. When she was 5 she read Goddess Girls which is rated for 8-12, and they were talking about boys and crushes, and whatnot.

"Some of my Best Friends are Books" recommends going for non-fiction when finding books at the right reading level for voracious youngsters, then for fiction stay closer to the age level books.
That said I just had my DS13 read Hunt for Red October. It doesn't have any insanity. They are all good people in a world that has problems and it is a psychological chase. If anyone can think of similarly sane but engaging novels, I'd love it.

After 20 some years in education as a high school Language Arts teacher, elementary teacher, mentor, staff developer and instructional coach, I became my schools' RtI and GT Specialist last year and I fell in love with the GT aspect! I am having the most fun in my career working with GT students and designing projects for them! I'm always on the lookout for any great fiction or non-fiction books on GT students.

Hi All, when I am faced with a challenge, the first thing I do is to try to educate myself and that generally means I head to the library :-). So, I'm looking for books about raising, supporting, and advocating for gifted children while still letting them be kids. I'm also looking for books at appropriate reading levels that are interesting to my kids. The younger two (DS8, twins) are benefiting from what I have found for my eldest son (DS10), but I need to find more for my eldest.

Hi,
I have a 7 year old daughter who is gifted. I would like to find resources to learn how to help her keep growing in her abilities. She loves to read. She is smarter than me.

As I was raising my voracious readers, I found that people really struggled to find appropriate books at two times: When they are around the age of 5-6 and want longer novels rather than easy readers, and when they are in the pre-teen years and they've blown their way through kids' lit but aren't ready for the violence and sex in many Young Adult novels. So I compiled two reading lists: http://blog.sukiwessling.com/2012/12/... for young children and http://blog.sukiwessling.com/2012/12/... for pre-teens. These books have all been vetted by moms of sensitive readers and any possible triggers are noted in my description. (I have read most but not all of them.) If anyone here has any additions to these lists, I'm always trying to keep them up-to-date. Leave your suggestions in the comments. - Suki

Suki, thank you for sharing these wonderful lists!

It really is cool to see parent engagement re: reading. Yay!

When you say "DD7," "DS10," "DD6," etc. what do you mean by the first D?

We can tell haven't taken part in parenting email lists, Terry! :-) DD=Dear daughter, DS=Dear son, DH=Dear husband, etc. And according to this page, there are even wider uses: http://www.gaarde.org/acronyms/?lookup=D

Suki

Aha! Irish dance parents use the same letters on message boards but "DS" means "Dancing Son" and "DD" means "Dancing Daughter!" I KNEW that's not what all of you meant!

And you can tell that I don't read Irish dance message boards! :-) I had no idea!

Though really, we should let Danielle specify her own usage, because I just learned that DD could also mean Dreaded Disease! I admit to having felt that way perhaps a few times about being a parent... ;-)

Hi all,

I'm Carolyn K. of Hoagies' Gifted, Inc., including Hoagies' Gifted Education Page and the Hoagies' Gifted social media communities on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+. I'm here... because Terry invited me!

I'm in gifted because of my kids. They're grown now, but that hasn't stopped me from continuing my involvement in gifted throughout the lifespan.

Glad to meet you all here.

And for more Gifted Acronyms and Terms, visit Hoagies' Gifted http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/acronyms...

@Engi, I keep a number of reading lists on Hoagies' Page. For books, both fiction and non-fiction, on issues around being gifted, check out http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/being_gi...

For lots more Hot Topics reading lists, visit http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/hot_topi... Since "reading level" is such a nebulous thing that changes definition depending on who you're talking to, the Hot Topics lists are organized by topic first, and general reading ability second. You'll find topics including Science Fiction/Fantasy, Biographies, Science, Gifted Young Adults, and lots more.

Hope this helps!

I did use DS as dear son and DD as dear daughter. I'm actually happy to write it out, just following convention. Sorry, it is annoying to come across unknown acronyms!

Hello all,
I have just come across the New York Review of Books Children's Book Club. I am an avid reader of NYRB book club books and the childrens books listed on the website look equally worthy. They are sorted by age and interest. Www.nybooks.com

I also love the site: www.amightygirl.com

Happy reading!
Danielle

Hello all,
I have just come across the New York Review of Books Children's Book Club. I am an avid reader of NYRB book club books and the childrens books listed on the website look equally worthy. They are sorted by age and interest. Www.nybooks.com

I also love the site: www.amightygirl.com

Happy reading!
Danielle

Hi Danielle, thanks for mentioning the NY Book Review list - I found it here: http://www.nybooks.com/books/imprints... . I also really like A Mighty Girl - if you-all use Facebook, they have an active and interesting page you can follow. One of the problems I run across is that when adults make book lists, they often don't take into account the temperament of the kids reading it. So the ages listed are often rather inappropriate for gifted kids. They'll list something as great for an eight-year-old that yours read at the age of five, and another book for a ten-year-old that's way too scary for a sensitive reader.

I agree with Suki re: adults making mainstream book lists for children. They list age-appropriate books but they're not books that work well for gifted kids. I suppose it's a matter of finding a book or resource that worked well for one gifted 15-year-old and then recommending it to another like-minded teen.

I'm surprised that none of you will admit to being gifted adults, lol! I will, though, and I've found that it's much more satisfying to discuss books with people who enjoy a similar level of intellectual challenge in their reading choices. It's also great to find a group of people with whom you can share experiences that are common to gifted people. Otherwise, it can be a little awkward to talk about why you really liked The Elegance of the Hedgehog!

I'm here first because I love reading, and I found it really important for anybody's mental development. second of all is my job, which has one of the most advanced groups of gifted children in Mexico and I came here to learn more about it.

Not all of them like science nor reading, but my real goal if for them to find the beauty in doing it no matter the topic they fancy the most.

Is a pleasure to meet you all.

I'm a mom of two gifted sons in 4th(DS) and 7th (DS13) grades, and I will admit to being gifted myself! Or as my husband says, "cursed". I have spent the last 10 or so years reading lots and lots of books about the gifted, as well as joining many gifted forums/groups. I'm here because I like to find people with common interests.

In addition to our many other interests, my family loves to read. Even though there is no lack of books on our to read lists, we are always interested in adding to that list with a great book!

Cathy, I totally agree that if you are gifted, it is great to talk to others like yourself who really "get it". It is nice to be able to say that my kids and I are gifted without feeling as though I am bragging - and believe me I am not. Some days, I would not wish being gifted on anyone.

Both DS9 and DS13 took a lot of time to be interested in reading themselves, even though we read together as a family almost every evening. I have lists of authors/books that I have kept over the years for reluctant readers. Now DS13 "devours" books.

I can say from personal reading experience that certain science fiction and mysteries work well to keep the interest of a gifted person. A lot of SciFi and Mysteries from the 30s, 40s and 50s are good for kids because they do not contain the sex and violence that can be found in more recent books - but there are many recent authors in these two genres that manage to keep things appropriate. When I was in elementary school, I read Agatha Christie, Isaac Asimov, and similar authors. I have been making a list for DS13, perhaps I should share it.