I don’t want to follow Tipper Gore’s lead and start another Parental Advisory bru-ha-ha, but I’ve gotten into some trouble recently with my advanced reader.
I’ve got an eleven year old who’s reading beyond her grade level, and I know a lot of people in this situation: your reader is eager to read, picks up everything, finishes before you even have time to even read the back cover. You’ve no idea if it’s all right, as in, is the material presented way over her/his head? My kid read the entire Harry Potter series before I got past book one. It bothered me that I had no idea what types of scenes and ideas were traipsing through her mind. Somebody finally pointed out that this was pretty much the whole parental conundrum in a nutshell.
I loosened the reins, the reading net expanded. She took great advice from Cindy Hinson, at Country Bookshelf, who reads this genre and is a true resource for anyone local looking for titles. Always nice to get recommendations from someone who has actually read the books….
My daughter read The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green, before I did. I loved this book, but– well, this is where my discomfort began. As she explored other titles by this guy–and he’s a great writer–I found myself explaining a blowjob. This was a bit out of my comfort zone. She’s eleven. I realize that the role of kids in the lives of us breeders is to push us beyond our comfort zone, but puh-lease.
So, I began this list. IT IS NOT A CENSORSHIP LIST!!! I insist on this. I despise censorship with all my heart. What I mean for this to be is a resource, so you don’t end up like me on a warm summer night, stammering, scratching your head, trying to decide, do I just lie and say no one does that? Or is it truth-telling time. I’m always for the truth, but dammit, I like to be prepared!
My hope is that this could become an interactive list; that is, I hope people will add to it, offer comments and thoughts so we could come here to see what we’re in for when our readers pick up say, Dark Eden, or The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night.
Again, I must stress: let ’em read!!! Just be prepared to do some talking. Talking is never bad, in my opinion.
The List
(Divided into subcategories, in the interest of total disclosure)
Titles I’ve read or that we’ve read together. I recommend (Note, a lot of these G-rated older titles my kid picked up, gazed at and set aside. Sniff! Oh, I felt so racy when I discovered Zilpha Keatley Snyder! Egads! She’s become geeky!?):
His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
The Anybodies, The Nobodies, the Somebodies, N. E. Bode (alias for Julianna Baggott)
Percy Jackson series, Rick Riordan
A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle
The Odyssey, Homer
The Iliad, Homer
To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
Death on the Nile, Agatha Christie
The Egypt Game, Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Headless Cupid, Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Outsiders, SE Hinton
Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
The Hobbit, JRR Tolkein
The Call of the Wild, Jack London
Stuff I haven’t read but made lots of “Tween” lists and I
want to check out (and would love feedback):
Pish Posh, Ellen Potter
The Saturdays, Elizabeth Enright
Pictures of Hollis Woods, Patricia Reilly Giff
The Wizard, the Witch, and Two Girls from Jersey, Lisa Papademetriou
Farenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
The Orphan and the Thief, ML LeGette
Matilda, Roald Dahl
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon
This one received some angry reviews on Amazon because of language and other issues. The narrator has autism. It looks of interest to me….
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, Sherman Alexie
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Ann Brashares
The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs
Stuff my 11-year-old has read and deems “clean.” CLEAN = there may be some romance or love tension, but no explicit sex.
The Maze Runner, James Dashner
Cinder, Marissa Meyer
Scarlett, Marissa Meyer
Sixth Grade Glommers, Norks and Me, Lisa Papademetriou
Confectionately Yours, Lisa Papademetriou
The Madman’s Daughter, Megan Shepherd
A Girl Called Fearless, Catherine Linka
The Apothecary, Maile Meloy
The Apprentice, Maile, Meloy
The False Prince, Jennifer Nielsen
Origins, Jessica Khoury
Earthbound, Aprilynne Pike
Wonder, R.J. Palacio
Sisters Grimm series, Michael Buckley
The Secret Series, Pseudonymous Bosch
My kid wrote him a letter! 15 months later, he wrote back!!!
Paper Towns, John Green
Scorpio Races, Maggie Stiefvater
Savvy, Ingrid Law
Be Aware Of: (Note that I did NOT say “beware;” I really meant BE AWARE):
Her Dark Curiosity, Megan Shepherd
This sequel to The Madman’s Daughter contains a suggested sex scene. The language is like this: I gave myself to him. We decided this fit with the elevated style of the book. All the same, if you’re avoiding this type of thing, know it happens.
The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
Kids killing each other in a Survival type setting. This is a social commentary on mean-spirited competition, especially as a form of entertainment. My feeling is that if kids can’t understand the mean-spirited competition inherent in most reality television, they probably aren’t going to understand a social critique of it. Many disagree with me; I see fourth graders reading this. I read it, couldn’t put it down.
An Abundance of Katherines, John Green
The main character watches other people have sex.
Looking for Alaska, John Green
This contains a blowjob. Yeah.
The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
I loved these characters and I was very okay with them consummating their relationship. But fyi, they do. Consummate.
Dark Eden, Chris Beckett
Set in a futuristic world, this page turner was a hit, but there is disturbing sex throughout, referred to as “having a slip.”
More more! I need more! What have your kids loved? What messes have you gotten into explaining, most likely all for the better? Let’s read! Let’s have these conversations! Let’s be informed!
Oh Christy, we are having fun now! I also had a very precocious reader who loved “Clan of the Cave Bear” when she was in third grade (10 years) old. I had read them and liked them, the first more than the later ones and had thought to myself,”good, nature stuff, women finding their power, blah, blah,” until she asked me, “mom, what are ‘her pulsating depths’? My husband and I debated several times (he: “no censorship”–me: “but I don’t think she should read every book all at once–and why do I always have to explain everything?”) and even talked to her teacher about “appropriate reading” — our daughter had gotten this at the public library. We ultimately went with the “no censorship” “please ask if you have questions” approach and she never stopped reading, still eats books whole at 29.
I love it when parenting issues force the couple to face their entire belief system, and, like, define it. That’s what we need!
Christy: All of your lists are good starts! Oh, I could add a lot to each of those lists. I will just mention a couple. One to Be Aware Of – Unwound (not sure of series name). I LOVED it, but I wouldn’t want Megan reading it yet. One that is totally clean – Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. Reminds me of a modern day take on some from our days, such as The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. If you have not read Wonder (from your daughter’s list) DO IT NOW. One of my new favorites. How about reading The Giver, especially if she likes to test boundaries. Or another title is Life As We Knew It. A lot of my students love the Disney After Dark series. See…I can go on…but I won’t. I have always allowed the kids to read whatever they want. I have never had an issue with what they are reading. We did have a big “oops” at school last year. A new teacher took over a classroom and didn’t know what books she had on her shelves. It had a cute little emoticon on the front cover so she didn’t think anything about it. Suddenly this 9 year old is reading about blow jobs, sex, etc. It was from the TTYL series. That series is totally inappropriate for that age group, but appears to be marketed and designed for them, bad publishing choices. Good topic, Christy. I wish more parents were involved in what their kids are reading. Thanks!
Thank you for this informative reply!!! I had not EVEN HEARD OF these TTYL books, but my daughter had!
Beth Kephart’s “YA” novels—Going Over; Small Damages; You Are My Only. Anne of Green Gables series (I LOVED as an 11-year-old girl, whoa.) Narnia series. Catcher in the Rye, Franny and Zooey. Hem’s In Our Time. Tuck Everlasting. Jane Austen. I can vouch for the Saturdays series. Also The Penderwicks. H LOVES the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming—Nora would breeze through it, of course, but it’s a fun and clever read. Island of the Blue Dolphins. Homecoming (and others) by Cynthia Voigt. The Hundred Dresses. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. The Pigman (and sequels), by Paul Zindel. Steinbeck’s The Pearl. Harriet the Spy. Bridge to Terabithia. The Witch of Blackbird Pond. Lois Lowry’s work. Where the Red Fern Grows. Sarah Plain and Tall (do only Maine kids read that?). The Cat Ate My Gymsuit (vague memories) which leads me also to semi-trashy but beloved Judy Blume books, which is probably where I learned about all sorts of things my parents didn’t want to talk about. My Side of the Mountain. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. Swiss Family Robinson. Watership Down (my sister loved, I never did read this…). Along those lines, Black Beauty, My Friend Flicka, James Herriot’s books, The Yearling (sis loved, I never read). A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Huck Finn. The Wonderful World of the Wizard of Oz. I also remember reading Eudora Welty’s autobio in high school and loving it—I bet there are some great memoirs/autobios that would be challenging and appropriate… Also, what about So Long, See You Tomorrow? Too young?
I absolutely love picturing the 4-6th grade you devouring all these titles. Truly impressive list.
The two books I remember reading and loving at this age (so, 30 years ago!??) were A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (obvious choice) and Chariots of Fire (not an obvious choice, but I fought my parents to be able to lay awake at night under the blanket finishing it into the wee hours with a flashlight).
awesome thanks for your reply. I especially love the ones that are not obvious!
Damn, I need to get reading! Way to many titles I’ve never heard of on your list. One I have read is the Sherman Alexie “Absolutely True Diary…” and really admire it. It has references to masturbation in it, but I’d have an easier time explaining that over a blowjob! Good Lord how did you manage that one?!
I’m going to print this and use it for the next 10-14 years. Hee. I will!
A friend from Laramie already started me on His Dark Materials. And I’m reading Fault in Our Stars now.
Hi! I’m glad I clicked over from Mamalode to find your blog. I love your writing…
I’d add “Girl from the Limberlost” to your “clean” list. I don’t remember it having any explicit sex scenes, I believe there’s kissing, and definitely some dignified heartache. I read it at about 11/12 and was fascinated by it. (Also a bonus: you can download it for free from Girlebooksm, as it’s an older novel.) The protagonist does have a rocky relationship with her mother and there’s trauma there – although the relationship is eventually repaired.
I’ll second the Austen books. What about the Princess Bride? It’s been a while since I’ve read it, so I don’t recall what the clean level is. I’ll also throw Is Underground, The Ordinary Princess, Trumpet of the Swan, Doctor Doolittle, and Holes. There’s also the How to Train your Dragon series but I haven’t read them and can’t speak to their appropriateness.
oh my gosh, these are great suggestions. I can’t get my kids to read HT Train Yr Dragon, but we love the movies. I also love it when other people have similar issue to mine, so seriously, thanks for clicking over!! A reader emailed me this website/email list
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/?utm_source=050815+Default+B&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly
and apparently they review books for young readers too. I haven’t explored, so can’t really endorse, but it looks interesting!
Hi! Gus is reading! I mean just beginning, but able to do it. Do you remember those firsts? Do you have a list of recommended early chapter books? Miss you!