Empowering Bright & Gifted Children

Academic development in bright and gifted children is not achieved by piling more work upon them. Academic development is achieved through variety, quality, and complexity. Within the context of reading, development of academic abilities can be best achieved by providing a quality reading experience for your child, rich with variety and complexity.

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Complex Characters and Plots: Advanced readers benefit from a variety of characters as well as characters with whom they identify - complex, bright, problem-solvers. Exceptional characters provide role models of people that triumph over adversity, and examples of how people cope with failures and overcome them. Increasing complexity of characters and plots as a reader's capabilities mature is beneficial.

Exposure to Worldwide Settings: The setting of a story is the location, time, and circumstances in which it takes place. Elements of a setting include the culture, historical period, geography, and time of day. The direction of children's literature is to provide more quality books where the setting is in many different countries. Preparing children for the world of their lifetime through literature is beneficial.

Countries We Support: Click on any of the following countries to see the selections in our book list with settings in that country.

Countries in Africa: Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania

Countries in Asia and Australia: Asia, Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand

Countries in North and South America: Canada, Mexico, Peru, USA

Countries in Europe: Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic, and Slovakia), France, Holland, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, UK (England, Scotland, Wales)

Genre Definition: Genres are loose sets of criteria that categorize literature. Ancient Greece defined three basic sub-genres within literature - poetry, drama, and prose. Today, there are additional genres defined within poetry, drama, and prose.

Genres Supported: Genres supported in our book list searches are listed below in bold. You may search for these genres using our search bar in the upper right of the website.

• Poetry: Demonstrates nuances of language, rhythm, and rhyme. Click Here to search our book list for poetry selections.

• Drama: Literature presented in a manner meant to be performed. Click Here to search our book list for drama selections.

• Prose: Literature written in everyday language.
  • Historical, Biography: Stories about real people and events. historical fiction stories can be written with fictional characters in real historical time frames with some fictionalized or dramatized events. Click Here to search our book list for historical selections. Click Here to search our book list for biographies.

  • Adventure: A story about a character who journeys to distant places to accomplish something. Click Here to search our book list for adventure selections.

  • Action: Similar to the adventure genre, but the character usually makes a risky choice, whih leads to desperate situations. Adventure and action are often categorized together because they have much in common. Click Here to search our book list for action oriented selections.

  • Science Fiction: A story about technology or the future. Often includes travel through time or space, or alien lifeforms. Click Here to search our book list for science fiction.

  • Fantasy: A story about magic and supernatural forces. Click Here to search our book list for fantasy selections.

  • Romance: A story about characters' relationships. It's usually a story focused on character development rather than adventures. Click Here to search our book list for romance selections.

  • Comedy/Humor: A story that tells about a series of humorous, funny or comical events. Click Here to search our book list for comedy selections.

  • Horror: A story that deliberately attempts to scare or frighten the reader, usually through suspense, violence, or shock. "Frankenstein" by mary Shelly, is an example of the horror genre. Click Here to search our book list for horror selections.

  • Thriller: Thrillers usually combine fear and excitement. They are often suspenseful and can have dark or serious themes. Click Here to search our book list for thriller selections.

Complex Themes: Well written classics and books with more complex themes are great choices to read with your child. Older classics can be more difficult reads than more recent classics and are particularly good choices for joint reading. Click Here to search our book list for classics.

Joint Reading: Read classics and books with more complex themes with your child, explaining or asking questions as you go, drawing visuals of character relationships or timelines can be very helpful for younger children to appreciate older classics.

Visual Art: Picture books are generally thought to be best for very young children. However, exposing children, even older children, to the beautiful visual art in picture books has many benefits. The illustrations allow creative children to tell stories well beyond what is written on the pages. The artwork on the pages brings art into homes more easily than going to an art museum. The quality of the art can allow children to tell complex tales of their own.

Academics: The vocabulary in picture books is written well beyond a pre-school level of reading. They are an excellent vehicle to encourage younger children who are advanced readers to expand their vocabulary while they enjoy the artwork on the pages.

Next Article: Reading Strategies Part II: Emotional Development

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