Anonymous
Post 07/26/2021 17:03     Subject: Appropriate books for a preschooler reading at 6th grade reading level
Anonymous wrote:Phantom Tollbooth?

Check a Catholic school website summer reading list for rising 6th graders.


Ha, no. My DD has to read "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" along with a choice from a list that includes "Hatchet" and "Chains". Not appropriate for preschoolers.

Stick with the picture books and Magic Tree House.
Anonymous
Post 07/26/2021 17:01     Subject: Appropriate books for a preschooler reading at 6th grade reading level
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 savages and less than human.
Anonymous
Post 07/26/2021 17:00     Subject: Appropriate books for a preschooler reading at 6th grade reading level
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.
Anonymous
Post 07/26/2021 16:57     Subject: Re:Appropriate books for a preschooler reading at 6th grade reading level
My teenager was and still is a gifted little reader. At age 5 she was tested and was 6th grade or higher. Didn’t mean she could only read books at that level. It just meant she could read paragraphs and answer comprehension questions at that level.

The summer before kindergarten I remember checking out 100 books from the library and cycling through new ones about once a week. These were the magic treehouse type books at the 2nd grade level. She read some harder books but that really wasn’t important. I just let her lead. She read these books in one sitting and multiple a day. This did not stunt her development!

In kindergarten she transitioned to reading ~4th grade level books. Like Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, warriors. I think going to school made a big difference. Prior to that she was just in day care. I think a lot of books require some background knowledge about school dynamics. She just kind of devoured these types of books for a few years. In 5th grade she started reading YA and Adult novels.

Anyway, you shouldn’t stress about reading level. But here are some upper elementary level book i remember her reading in elementary school.

Keeper of the lost cities (Shannon Messenger)
Tuck everlasting (Natalie Babbitt)
The wizard of earthsea (Ursula k Le Guin)
Where the mountain meets the moon (grace lin)
Watership Down (Richard Adams)
Savvy (Ingrid law)
Echo (Pam Munoz Ryan)
The Golden compass (Phillip Pullman)
The book of three (Lloyd Alexander)
The great gilly Hopkins (Katherine Patterson)
The Girl with Silver Eyes (Willo Davis Roberts)
Pax (Sarah Pennypacker)
The witch of blackbird pond (Elizabeth George Speare)
Esperanza rising (Pam Munoz Ryan)
The inquisitor’s Tale (Adam Gidwitz)
Fuzzy mud (Louis sachar)
The evolution of Calpurnia Tate (Jacqueline Kelly)
How to eat Fried worms (Thomas Rockwell)
Strawberry girl (Lois Lenski)
The magic garden (Gene Stratton-Porter)
Ghost (Jason Reynolds)
Dragon lance (Margaret Weiss)
Peter and the starcatchers (Dave Barry)
The secret life of bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
One crazy summer (Rita Williams-Garcia)
Unbroken (Laura hillenbrand)
Rocket boys (homer Hickman)
Heart of samurai (Margi Preus)
A thousand leagues under the sea (Jules verne)
Anonymous
Post 07/26/2021 16:55     Subject: Appropriate books for a preschooler reading at 6th grade reading level
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.
Anonymous
Post 07/26/2021 16:29     Subject: Appropriate books for a preschooler reading at 6th grade reading level
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.


And no, most books "older than a few years" are NOT on the list of racist literature. I read my child tons of older books, and most of them are fine.
Anonymous
Post 07/26/2021 16:28     Subject: Appropriate books for a preschooler reading at 6th grade reading level
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.
Anonymous
Post 07/26/2021 16:20     Subject: Appropriate books for a preschooler reading at 6th grade reading level
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."
Anonymous
Post 07/26/2021 14:48     Subject: Appropriate books for a preschooler reading at 6th grade reading level
Anonymous wrote:Old British books. Mary Poppins, paddington, Winnie the Pooh, secret garden, anything by Nesbit. Diction and sentence structure is challenging, complex writing but the themes are simple and innocent— not a lot of violence, snark or middle school drama.


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.

When Martha says she thought Mary would be black because she was from India, Mary bursts into tears and says, "You thought I was a native! … They are not people—they are servants who must salaam to you."
Anonymous
Post 07/26/2021 14:44     Subject: Re:Appropriate books for a preschooler reading at 6th grade reading level
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm not a troll. My child has taken several different assessments and reads many advanced chapter books. I'm just looking for new ideas.


So have them read more of the authors they are already reading? Part of reading at a sixth grade level is processing concepts that may not be appropriate for a five year old- does Larla understand what he reads or just know the words?



My child understands most of it, but not all the nuances in the more advanced books. Expressions and such are understood more literally.
Anonymous
Post 07/26/2021 14:27     Subject: Appropriate books for a preschooler reading at 6th grade reading level
Old British books. Mary Poppins, paddington, Winnie the Pooh, secret garden, anything by Nesbit. Diction and sentence structure is challenging, complex writing but the themes are simple and innocent— not a lot of violence, snark or middle school drama.
Anonymous
Post 07/26/2021 14:25     Subject: Re:Appropriate books for a preschooler reading at 6th grade reading level
Thanks for all the helpful advice and suggestions so far! Using this time to really enjoy children's literature, even if it's not challenging, is a really good point.
Anonymous
Post 07/26/2021 14:25     Subject: Appropriate books for a preschooler reading at 6th grade reading level
Anonymous wrote:Geronimo Stilton is a really good option- there are a ton of them and they are chapter books, so an advanced reader won’t finish them in 2 seconds. Maybe diary of a wimpy kid?


No! I hesitated giving Diary of a Wimpy Kid to my snarky 9 year old. Too much bad role modeling going on there. Do not give this to a preschooler.
Anonymous
Post 07/26/2021 14:24     Subject: Appropriate books for a preschooler reading at 6th grade reading level
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Take them to the bookstore or library and let them pick out what seems interesting. You don't need to control it by level.


+1

Just because a kid CAN read at a higher grade level doesn't mean they HAVE to read at a higher grade level. We had this issue -- my kid was reading several grades ahead, but the content of many books "at her level" was not appropriate for her, or she simply didn't have the experience to relate to it or the life understanding to really get it. So she read things that were not "challenging" but that were emotionally appropriate. We also read a lot of picture books, which are often written at a higher reading level (since often it's parents reading to kids, so the vocabulary is more advanced). She also liked collections of fairy tales and folk tales, as well as things like kid's encyclopedias or reference books for kids about space or the ocean or animals or whatever.


+2 Reading level is unrelated to subject matter and what the child should be reading. Reading level is just a school-based diagnostic. Leave that to teachers for in school purposes. Your child can already read well enough, so your goal is to keep the child interested in the subject of the books at home. Level is 100% irrelevant to your home book selection. I agree that picture books and other books meant for adults to read to kids are great for this age and particularly good for early readers.

Bear in mind that at school the teacher will be introducing and using books for different reasons, so don't get bent out of shape if they seem 'too easy' for your child. Read the harder books at home.


I second this. The "easy" books are school are used to develop and test comprehension skills like prediction or understanding cause and effect. At home, our approach was to let her read what she liked, occasionally suggesting or leaving out books that were more challenging in terms of reading levels, but more emphasizing reading for fun (because that's how you gain fluency) and talking about the books she read (to make sure that she was comprehending, not just decoding). She has lots of time to read the middle-grade classics, but only a certain amount of time to read the many wonderful works of young children's literature.


Yes! My Father's Dragon. Charlottes Web and Stuart Little are fine for grades 4-8. Mouse and the Motorcycle and other Beverly Cleary books. Dory Fantasmagory is grades 2-4, but should be totally fine for your daughter. I was a very early reader too and skipped a grade, and to this day, when I read for pleasure, I like books that are fun and not necessarily taxing on my brain.
Anonymous
Post 07/26/2021 14:23     Subject: Appropriate books for a preschooler reading at 6th grade reading level
Geronimo Stilton is a really good option- there are a ton of them and they are chapter books, so an advanced reader won’t finish them in 2 seconds. Maybe diary of a wimpy kid?