luuknam Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 What books would fall in this category? In my library, this category doesn't exist. They have 3 books that fit "child development -- juvenile fiction", but they're about regular kids. In another thread, I mentioned that I like Life of Fred because he's such an asynchronously developing kid (albeit completely silly and over-the-top). What other books have asynchronously developing protagonists? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather R Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 What age is the reader? The Flavia de Luce series would be great for 12+... Theodosia series for about 8+... Hmmm... Let me keep thinking... It seems we have read more books than this about gifted child protagonists... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tm919 Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Maybe A Wrinkle in Time and the other books in the series would fit in this category. For adolescents I liked Very Far Away from Anywhere Else (Le Guin). 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Percy Jackson is dyslexic and ADD. He is also able to save the world, but cannot figure out that girls like him or how to handle it. Theodosia is able to also save the world, but has trouble figuring out how to handle social situations or any level of graceful propriety. Ummm... I'll look through the boy's bookshelf today. It is hard to think of them since I live with such a person all the time it seems normal. :) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenneinCA Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 The Mysterious Benedict Society might work too. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted April 4, 2015 Author Share Posted April 4, 2015 What age is the reader? My oldest is 7.5yo. And his strengths are more in math than in language arts. Thanks for the suggestions so far. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mc26 Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 My older boy likes books with "smart kid" heroes. Some of his favorites are The Genius Files series, The Secret series (pseudonymous bosch), Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, The Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus books, The Puzzling World of Winston Breen, and Floors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 N.E.R.D.Z. is pretty good. The "nerds" at school are actually secret spies. There are three in this series of I remember right. The Homework Machine and Return of the Homework Machine are both fun. A smart kid invents a homework machine with his friends and they have to figure out if it is ethically right to use it or where the limitations are. They invent it becuase they are so bored with the busywork of school and with the machine they can study and learn whatever they want without having to do homework. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 There's a series which starts with "The Lemonade War". A GT younger sibling is grade skipped into her older brother's class, and they have to figure out how to manage the situation. One thing I like about it is that both kids are shown as having clear strengths and weaknesses. There are several after that where they have to deal with school situations and work through them. http://www.amazon.com/Lemonade-War-Book-ebook/dp/B003KK5DQ8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1428236590&sr=1-1&keywords=Lemonade+war The Gallagher Girls series is about teen girls who are also spies, and who definitely have a contrast between amazing skills in one or more areas and being just plain normal, emotional 13-17 yr olds. There are several in this series. http://www.amazon.com/Tell-Love-Then-Gallagher-Girls-ebook/dp/B000S1LF5K/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1428236568&sr=1-2&keywords=gallagher+girls Blue Iguana is one of my DD's favorites. The protagonist is a teen who is obviously GT and has the emotional OEs turned up to 10. She refuses to learn to drive, for example, because she cannot stand the possibility that she might hit an animal. She gets involved with an iguana research project over the summer in the Caiman Islands, where she has to deal with the often harsh truths of trying to save the world. http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Iguana-Wendy-Townsend/dp/1608981584/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1428236497&sr=8-2&keywords=Blue+Iguana Not surprisingly, books with gifted girl protagonists seem to be a hit here :) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Also, Andrew Clements' books tend to focus on kids who have a specific area of strength and excel in them, while being age-appropriate in other ways. Having said that, there's one that I absolutely do NOT recommend for GT kids. The Report card is a GT girl who has managed to blend in and convince everyone that she's ordinary/normal, until she gets frustrated with her parents and deliberately bombs a report card-which leads to her being tested by the school and them discovering just how gifted she really is. Unfortunately, the book ends with her convincing her family and the school to let her go back to being "ordinary" and blending in. That's a pretty dangerous message for a GT kid. http://www.amazon.com/Report-Card-Andrew-Clements-ebook/dp/B00710PD4U/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1428236731&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Report+Card Gordon Korman also often has kids who are gifted in one or more ways, but are also very age-appropriate in others. (And the fact that his first book was written and published when he was 12 is pretty cool and might help to explain why he writes very realistic GT kids!). One particularly interesting one is "Ungifted"-a neurotypical middle school boy, due to a mix-up, ends up in a self-contained program for HG+ kids, and has to find his way as a complete fish out of water. The GT kids are portrayed very well and humanly, with a wide range of behavior and personalities. http://www.amazon.com/Ungifted-Gordon-Korman-ebook/dp/B007JLKC10/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1428237242&sr=1-1&keywords=gordon+korman+Ungifted I do suggest pre-reading "Schooled"-the protagonist of that one is a very, very atypical home/unschooler who has been raised way, way out of the norm by his grandmother, who, after she is injured, ends up in a traditional high school setting. My DD enjoyed it, once steam stopped pouring out of her ears because "Homeschoolers aren't like that"-but in 20/20 hindsight, I wish I'd taken time to discuss in advance that the whole premise is based on the fact that the main character IS so far out of the ordinary, even for homeschooled kids. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space station Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 The Girl Who Could Fly - not realistic fiction, but about a group of kids with special skills and the school that they go to is trying to make them be "normal" and deny their powers. In the end they learn to embrace their powers and who they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs. Tharp Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 The Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer. The protagonist is the younger sister of Sherlock Holmes. Through the series, she is forced to learn how to live on her own, on her own terms, while evading her older brothers, who in spite of their own genius, are unable to envision her in any role other than that of a conventional young lady. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted April 13, 2015 Author Share Posted April 13, 2015 Thanks. I just finished reading Ungifted by Korman. So many more to check out. :) Both an upside and a downside of ESL... I don't know many English-language kids' books, but I have a reason to find and read some. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lifebreakingin Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 But Enola Holmes has some pretty mature themes. Benedict Society is ideal for this age, or at least my 7yo loved them! Matilda? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted April 13, 2015 Author Share Posted April 13, 2015 It's okay to list books for any age. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raptor_dad Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 I thought Sara Pennypacker's "Clementine" books involved a clearly gifted, sensory, asynchronous protagonist. I thought those books were a good alternative to the Ramona books... DS read them in Kindergarten. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raptor_dad Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 In the Ransome's "Swallows and Amazons" universe, Dick and Dorothea are obviously the asynchronous, gifted kids. Dot is limited by being the literary, girl(in a mildly sexist Edwardian book). Dick, however, is the geeky, science kid and is embraced by both the rural farmers and the other kids. "Winter Holiday" is the first and best book for seeing Dick and Dot displayed favorably. "Pigeon Post" also shows Dick well in a mining context... Uncle Jim/Captain Flint is obviously a grown up version of Dick... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lifebreakingin Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Ah, then Enola is fantastic. I'd add Vesper Holly, too. And The Beekeeper's Apprentice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raptor_dad Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 A recent post about "Anne of Green Gables" on another board was topical. Anne has so many sensory and emotional overexcitabilities... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah0000 Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Artemis Fowl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah0000 Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 And then there's the Heinlein novels but only for mature teens and adults, and even then some people wouldn't approve of some of the books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Actually, the Heinlein juveniles, that first appeared in Boys' life, are really good for asynchronous kids, because for the most part they're very smart kids having to solve problems. Where you have to be careful is that most libraries/bookstores shelve all of Heinlein's work together, so you have Red Planet, which is a juvenile novel and very appropriate for kids next to Stranger in a Strange land, which is decidedly NOT juvenile and is appropriate for older high school, next to To Sail Beyond the Sunset and Time Enough for Love, both of which get into things that many adults disapprove of. Honestly, I think that Heinlein, by the end of his life, was trying to see just how much he could get away with! In general, Golden Age Sci-fi is appropriate for kids. By the 1960s, you have to be more selective, and I have a hard time thinking of a single sci-fi/fantasy author from about that point on who has more than 2-3 books who is completely "safe". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lifebreakingin Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 DD just read a great one: The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency. Ada has sensory and interpersonal issues, but she and Mary combine their strengths to stop clever criminals. Adorable, silly, girl-power adaptation of historical figures. My coding and poetry loving DD loved it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebcoola Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 Piper Reed she and her Mom suffer from dyslexia but are talented artists she has 2 sisters who excel in more traditional subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 The Selected Works of TS Spivet http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Selected_Works_of_T.S._Spivet Second The Mysterious Benedict Society and A Wrinkle in Time. But books like Pippi Longstocking are full of asynchronous behavior. It doesn't take being about gifted kids for the storyline to be definitely about one. We read mostly older fiction and the vocabulary and behaviors of the children are very different from modern fiction. My mil gave my 5 yr old dd Fancy Nancy and Pinkalicious books. They make me want to poke my eyes out. Give me books like When Molly was Six and Nelly's Hospital any day. (Sorry, my recent memories are around little girls. ;) ) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikslo Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 What age is the reader? The Flavia de Luce series would be great for 12+... Theodosia series for about 8+... Hmmm... Let me keep thinking... It seems we have read more books than this about gifted child protagonists... My DS 8 loves Flavia. Chemistry, poison, and death. What's not to love? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted April 29, 2015 Author Share Posted April 29, 2015 But books like Pippi Longstocking are full of asynchronous behavior. It doesn't take being about gifted kids for the storyline to be definitely about one. True. I'm not even entirely sure why I put it this in the Accelerated Learner category. Probably because accelerated != gifted, and because I figured that people here might have more suggestions, lol. C would not fall in the "gifted" category (at latest testing, verbal IQ just over 100, performance in the 120s, which are both up 20-30 points from the measurements when he was 4yo, although I don't think either test is likely to be overly accurate). B probably would score in gifted range. C is more asynchronous than B. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.