Appropriate books for a preschooler reading at 6th grade reading level

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No on Secret Garden, which appears on quite a few lists of racist children's literature. Mary spends quite a bit of time complaining about the sub-human Indian savages.

Most books older than a few years are on that list, if they're not already on the sexist transphobic one. It's an excellent way to keep people out of the used market.

For what it's worth, Mary is presented explicitly as not being someone to emulate.

"[Mary's mother] had not wanted a little girl at all, and when Mary was born she handed her over to the care of an Ayah, who was made to understand that if she wished to please the Mem Sahib she must keep the child out of sight as much as possible. So when she was a sickly, fretful, ugly little baby she was kept out of the way, and when she became a sickly, fretful, toddling thing she was kept out of the way also. She never remembered seeing familiarly anything but the dark faces of her Ayah and the other native servants, and as they always obeyed her and gave her her own way in everything, because the Mem Sahib would be angry if she was disturbed by her crying, by the time she was six years old she was as tyrannical and selfish a little pig as ever lived."

Imagine reading that to your child of color and what they will think about themselves when they read that. I don't have to imagine it, because I started reading the book to my child who is not white and found myself having to cut out passages from it and then putting it down in disgust.

I don't have white children, but I also don't have such self-introspective sensitive ones. You have my deepest sympathies; it must be hard.

I feel sorry for your children that neither they nor you don't see a problem with children's literature referring to people with dark skin as less than human.

+1. PP is a typical white mom

[Anonymous]

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle
Flat Stanley
My Father’s Dragon
Princess Tales series by Gail Carson Levine
Quiltmaker books by Jeff Brumbeau (picture books)
Magic School Bus (picture books and chapter books)
Princess in Black

If more adventurous:
Boxcar Children
Secrets of Droon (the special editions get pretty intense, you might want to skip them for now)
Magic Tree House
Time Warp Trio
Cam Jansen

For you to read to her - Just-So Stories by Rudyard Kipling (you can get illustrated version in the children’s section at the library. The prose is very dense, so it would probably work better for you to read to her, so she can get caught up in the beauty of the language and focus on the meaning. I think you’ll enjoy it as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No on Secret Garden, which appears on quite a few lists of racist children's literature. Mary spends quite a bit of time complaining about the sub-human Indian savages.

Most books older than a few years are on that list, if they're not already on the sexist transphobic one. It's an excellent way to keep people out of the used market.

For what it's worth, Mary is presented explicitly as not being someone to emulate.

"[Mary's mother] had not wanted a little girl at all, and when Mary was born she handed her over to the care of an Ayah, who was made to understand that if she wished to please the Mem Sahib she must keep the child out of sight as much as possible. So when she was a sickly, fretful, ugly little baby she was kept out of the way, and when she became a sickly, fretful, toddling thing she was kept out of the way also. She never remembered seeing familiarly anything but the dark faces of her Ayah and the other native servants, and as they always obeyed her and gave her her own way in everything, because the Mem Sahib would be angry if she was disturbed by her crying, by the time she was six years old she was as tyrannical and selfish a little pig as ever lived."

Imagine reading that to your child of color and what they will think about themselves when they read that. I don't have to imagine it, because I started reading the book to my child who is not white and found myself having to cut out passages from it and then putting it down in disgust.

I don't have white children, but I also don't have such self-introspective sensitive ones. You have my deepest sympathies; it must be hard.

I feel sorry for your children that neither they nor you don't see a problem with children's literature referring to people with dark skin as less than human.

+1. PP is a typical white mom

I think The Secret Garden is a beautiful book that can be shared to children when they’re old enough to understand historical context. There is also content that might be disturbing for a preschooler (her parents are dead, the cries in the night from the boy concerned over his hump - and his mother’s dead too, the father’s coldness, etc). I think it’s too intense for a preschooler, and I think they’d enjoy and appreciate it more when they’re a little older. I think it’s probably really good for a 3rd-5th grader.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No on Secret Garden, which appears on quite a few lists of racist children's literature. Mary spends quite a bit of time complaining about the sub-human Indian savages.

Most books older than a few years are on that list, if they're not already on the sexist transphobic one. It's an excellent way to keep people out of the used market.

For what it's worth, Mary is presented explicitly as not being someone to emulate.

"[Mary's mother] had not wanted a little girl at all, and when Mary was born she handed her over to the care of an Ayah, who was made to understand that if she wished to please the Mem Sahib she must keep the child out of sight as much as possible. So when she was a sickly, fretful, ugly little baby she was kept out of the way, and when she became a sickly, fretful, toddling thing she was kept out of the way also. She never remembered seeing familiarly anything but the dark faces of her Ayah and the other native servants, and as they always obeyed her and gave her her own way in everything, because the Mem Sahib would be angry if she was disturbed by her crying, by the time she was six years old she was as tyrannical and selfish a little pig as ever lived."

Imagine reading that to your child of color and what they will think about themselves when they read that. I don't have to imagine it, because I started reading the book to my child who is not white and found myself having to cut out passages from it and then putting it down in disgust.

I don't have white children, but I also don't have such self-introspective sensitive ones. You have my deepest sympathies; it must be hard.

I feel sorry for your children that neither they nor you don't see a problem with children's literature referring to people with dark skin as less than human.

+1. PP is a typical white mom

^ Oops! I messed up the quote. Here you can see what I’m posting vs. quoting:

I think The Secret Garden is a beautiful book that can be shared to children when they’re old enough to understand historical context. There is also content that might be disturbing for a preschooler (her parents are dead, the cries in the night from the boy concerned over his hump - and his mother’s dead too, the father’s coldness, etc). I think it’s too intense for a preschooler, and I think they’d enjoy and appreciate it more when they’re a little older. I think it’s probably really good for a 3rd-5th grader.

[Anonymous]

I have an advanced reader and it is really difficult to find appropriate books. There is a lot of violence and scary stuff, and just rude mouthy kids. I agree with PP who said it's important to just enjoy the age appropriate books in the window when they can enjoy them. So many are poetic and beautifully illustrated. For example, check out "Journey" which is wordless.

We read Narnia and Secret Garden aloud to DD so that we could edit out the racist stuff.

[Anonymous]

Comic books like Baby Blues and Zits and Calvin and Hobbes. Higher level reading but lots of fun pictures. Really, any comic. Even if it's annoying like Garfield. They'll move to Asterix and TinTin and webcomics eventually.

[Anonymous]

Comic book PP above here -

Also check out the beautiful, higher level picture books that are shelved with the Juvenile chapter books at local libraries. We found some wonderful books for advanced (but young) readers that way -

Stand Straight Ella Kate, for example, and anything by Patricia Polacco. Any of the beautifully illustrated mythology books - Dulaire's etc. Look for great picture book biographies.. Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek was one. There are so many and they were a lifesaver when I was in your position.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Non fiction. Gerald Durrel is great.

[Anonymous]

Still editing - PP here. And just because your DC CAN read at a sixth grade level doesn't mean they should always want to. Sometimes it's nice to look at a picture book. And the skills to infer meaning from pictures as well as text is one that they still should enjoy honing.

One of the saddest things I see as a parent of older kids now is when I hear parents telling their kid, who wants to take out a picture book at the library, no, you need a "real" book. You're not a baby anyway. Crushes me every time. My oldest kid is an artist and she read picture books for a LONG time. She loved the art in them. Maybe that's your child.

Anyway, please don't force kids to give up picture books!

[Anonymous]

My son liked those "Big Book of Facts" books with all sorts of science and cultural facts...maybe try some of those? Usually good photos and illustrations, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hatchet is too old for a preschooler -- even the tamer "My side of the Mountain" is about a boy running away from home and living on his own. Those are meant for older kids.

OP, the fabulous advice I got was this: there is a window of time for the magic of certain levels of children's books -- don't miss it because you were pushing the child to read books meant for older kids. Your child will read those when older, but will never want to go back and read the wonderful literature meant for little ones. Stay in the little kids section of the library for a while longer yet. You won't be getting back there.

+1

Also, as our children's librarian said, "Picture books is a genre, not a reading level." Many of them have beautiful artwork, lovely stories, and even advanced vocabulary.

I absolutely love this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My early and advanced reader ADORED Elephant and Piggie. She also liked Knuffle Bunny, Frog & Toad, and the Frances books. Were they hard for her to read? No. But they were funny, and pitched right at her emotional level, and she became a delightfully expressive reader because of them.

Elephant and Piggie books are great! And good for partnered reading because they are mostly dialogues and you can act out all the silly situations. And for those who like Frog & Toad, the Poppleton books are pretty nice.

One picture book author I really liked was Jerdine Nolen - Raising Dragons and Irene's Wish both really stuck in my mind, and all of her books that I read to my daughter were excellent. Many of her books have African-American protagonists, which is not-so-common but really positive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No on Secret Garden, which appears on quite a few lists of racist children's literature. Mary spends quite a bit of time complaining about the sub-human Indian savages.

Most books older than a few years are on that list, if they're not already on the sexist transphobic one. It's an excellent way to keep people out of the used market.

For what it's worth, Mary is presented explicitly as not being someone to emulate.

"[Mary's mother] had not wanted a little girl at all, and when Mary was born she handed her over to the care of an Ayah, who was made to understand that if she wished to please the Mem Sahib she must keep the child out of sight as much as possible. So when she was a sickly, fretful, ugly little baby she was kept out of the way, and when she became a sickly, fretful, toddling thing she was kept out of the way also. She never remembered seeing familiarly anything but the dark faces of her Ayah and the other native servants, and as they always obeyed her and gave her her own way in everything, because the Mem Sahib would be angry if she was disturbed by her crying, by the time she was six years old she was as tyrannical and selfish a little pig as ever lived."

Imagine reading that to your child of color and what they will think about themselves when they read that. I don't have to imagine it, because I started reading the book to my child who is not white and found myself having to cut out passages from it and then putting it down in disgust.

I don't have white children, but I also don't have such self-introspective sensitive ones. You have my deepest sympathies; it must be hard.

I feel sorry for your children that neither they nor you don't see a problem with children's literature referring to people with dark skin as less than human.

+1. PP is a typical white mom

^ Oops! I messed up the quote. Here you can see what I’m posting vs. quoting:

I think The Secret Garden is a beautiful book that can be shared to children when they’re old enough to understand historical context. There is also content that might be disturbing for a preschooler (her parents are dead, the cries in the night from the boy concerned over his hump - and his mother’s dead too, the father’s coldness, etc). I think it’s too intense for a preschooler, and I think they’d enjoy and appreciate it more when they’re a little older. I think it’s probably really good for a 3rd-5th grader.

It's been banned in many schools for racist language and viewpoints. But if your child is white, perhaps it won't strike them as that awful (which is sad in and of itself).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No on Secret Garden, which appears on quite a few lists of racist children's literature. Mary spends quite a bit of time complaining about the sub-human Indian savages.

Most books older than a few years are on that list, if they're not already on the sexist transphobic one. It's an excellent way to keep people out of the used market.

For what it's worth, Mary is presented explicitly as not being someone to emulate.

"[Mary's mother] had not wanted a little girl at all, and when Mary was born she handed her over to the care of an Ayah, who was made to understand that if she wished to please the Mem Sahib she must keep the child out of sight as much as possible. So when she was a sickly, fretful, ugly little baby she was kept out of the way, and when she became a sickly, fretful, toddling thing she was kept out of the way also. She never remembered seeing familiarly anything but the dark faces of her Ayah and the other native servants, and as they always obeyed her and gave her her own way in everything, because the Mem Sahib would be angry if she was disturbed by her crying, by the time she was six years old she was as tyrannical and selfish a little pig as ever lived."

Imagine reading that to your child of color and what they will think about themselves when they read that. I don't have to imagine it, because I started reading the book to my child who is not white and found myself having to cut out passages from it and then putting it down in disgust.

I don't have white children, but I also don't have such self-introspective sensitive ones. You have my deepest sympathies; it must be hard.

I feel sorry for your children that neither they nor you don't see a problem with children's literature referring to people with dark skin as less than human.

+1. PP is a typical white mom

^ Oops! I messed up the quote. Here you can see what I’m posting vs. quoting:

I think The Secret Garden is a beautiful book that can be shared to children when they’re old enough to understand historical context. There is also content that might be disturbing for a preschooler (her parents are dead, the cries in the night from the boy concerned over his hump - and his mother’s dead too, the father’s coldness, etc). I think it’s too intense for a preschooler, and I think they’d enjoy and appreciate it more when they’re a little older. I think it’s probably really good for a 3rd-5th grader.

It's been banned in many schools for racist language and viewpoints. But if your child is white, perhaps it won't strike them as that awful (which is sad in and of itself).

DP. As the white mother of black and Latina children I take your point ... and you are missing hers.

There is a teachable moment when encountering books such as you describe and it isn't good to completely ignore them like they were never written. After all, when you're listening to music, do you immediately turn off your stream when Michael Jackson comes on? I abhor his pedophiliac acts yet I understand why his music is still listened to by many. So, too, with books like The Secret Garden or books by Mark Twain or and a host of others. They were written at a time when views were different, and WRONG. We can read them for their literary value while also taking the time to explain the immoral, unethical, troublesome and/or inappropriate content.

For our part, my husband and I don't want our kids growing up in a world where they don't understand other perspectives. Our kids need to know what's out there, what they're up against and the (sometimes) hidden value systems of other people. Introducing abhorrent concepts through reading is, imo, a good way to broach these difficult concepts and for us as parents to frame the content in a way acceptable to us that has value to our children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t have my preschooler reading books at a 6th grade level. Have them stick to books for kids K-2, where the concepts are age appropriate. Just because they are capable of reading at that level at age 4, it doesn’t mean you need to give them books that advanced.

Agree. Being able to decode the words is not the same as understanding the content.