My seven year-old daughter is a very gifted and voracious reader. She started chewing through the *Harry Potter* series when she was five, and she’s currently reading three different series of novels (*Wings of Fire*, *The Land of Stories*, and *The Lord of the Rings*), at the same time. And then there all the science books, graphic novels, and classic literature she consumes.
I probably spend a few hundred dollars a month just trying to keep up with her reading habits. But I am not complaining. It is a great problem to have, and I am super proud. However, I am running into a difficult problem now.
Her reading level is at least 8th or 9th grade (maybe higher), but she is still just a little kid. So a lot of the books targeted at second graders are too easy for her, but the books at her reading level often contain more mature themes that are not appropriate for her age.
Like *Tom Sawyer*, *Flowers in the Attic*, the *Diary of Anne Frank*, *The Fault in our Stars*, and *Flowers for Algeron* are all great books, but also have a lot of stuff in it that would be a bit too mature for a little kid to read.
Right now, I want to start her on some good science fiction–and while Asimov’s robot and Foundation series are a pretty safe bet–a lot of my favorite sci-fi contains social, racial, moral, sexual or personal themes that are too mature for a seven year-old.
Sure *The Mote in God’s Eye* might be fine, but a big chunk of Heinlein’s and Niven’s work contains problematic stuff. I love *The Moon is a Harsh Mistress*, but I don’t know if I want to be explaining polygamy and casual racism/sexism to my kid right now. *Stranger in a Strange Land*? Nope. No way. And while Heinlein’s short stories are mostly safe, there’s also the really socially problematic stuff those authors got up to (like in *Farnham’s Farmhold* or *Lucifer’s Hammer*).
Meanwhile, the *Wind-up Girl* is amazing and set in her hometown, but then again, prostitution is not something my kid needs to learn about right now. *Ender’s Game*: child abuse and genocide. *Ringworld*: people having sex to say “hello”. Bank’s Culture novels: my favorite of the genre, but also rape, prostitution, torture, and a lot of high concept sci-fi ideas. I could go on, but you get the idea.
So even stuff that doesn’t have explicit sex scenes in it can still have stuff that is not at her maturity level, even if it might be good stuff that is just too high-concept for her to grasp and enjoy. Does anyone else have this problem? What should I do? What is the right balance to strike between a very advanced reading level and a very young reader.
by pudgimelon