As you ponder the book lists and the information about choosing books, we would like to encourage you to set some overall goals and priorities of what you are trying to accomplish with your child. Following are some examples to think about. Consider these as well as your own goal ideas, so that as you read through the materials you can focus on the facts and strategies that will most help you achieve what you want to accomplish.
Goal: View the Whole Child. With this goal, you recognize that your child has many needs, not just academic. Making great book choices can provide an opportunity to address other needs of your child. Introduce strong characters with whom they can identify. Let them experience how characters cope with adversity in positive ways. For advanced and gifted readers, viewing the whole child means understanding how to develop reading skills as well as developing the whole child as part of their reading experience.
Goal: Match Capabilities with Appropriate Challenge. Advanced and gifted readers have a wide range of capabilities that change over time. This spectrum ranges from advanced readers that are reading beyond grade level, to exceptionally gifted readers that are reading at an adult level. There is general agreement by educators that the most learning occurs when a learner’s current level and the challenge of new material is well matched. With this goal you recognize that your child has academic capabilities that should be appropriately challenged.
Goal: Encourage a Life Long Love of Reading. With this goal, you recognize that while you want to encourage your child to expand their capabilities and meet emotional and personal needs, the desired end game is to encourage a child to be a life-long reader. All readers should be encouraged to advance their reading skills and capabilities in a way that encourages a life long love of reading.
