There exists a particular species of young reader—you shall know them by their questions, which arrive in great flurries like sparrows at a breadcrumb. These children devour books the way other youngsters consume biscuits, and they are forever hungry for more. If you have such a child in your keeping, or if you are perhaps such a child yourself (for children of all ages read these pages), then this list has been assembled especially for you.
The gifted child faces a peculiar predicament: their minds race several years ahead of their birthdays, yet their hearts remain precisely where hearts ought to be. They require books that challenge without overwhelming, that respect their intelligence whilst nurturing their spirits. What follows are the finest books for just such remarkable young persons.
The Wendy by Erin Michelle Sky and Steven Brown
One must begin with a rather extraordinary reimagining of a tale you may think you know. The Wendy takes the familiar story of a certain flying boy and his adventures, then turns it delightfully upon its head—for in this telling, it is Wendy Darling who commands our attention entirely.
Here is an orphan girl in 1780s England who dreams of captaining her own ship, a notion considered quite impossible for young ladies of that era. Yet Wendy possesses that most dangerous combination: a brilliant mind and an unwillingness to accept “impossible” as an answer. She teaches herself navigation, swordplay, and all manner of skills that young women simply did not learn—and then she puts them to magnificent use.
The writing itself is a marvel, capturing the wit and warmth of classic children’s literature whilst telling an entirely fresh adventure. Readers have described magic that “smells green and tastes like pickles,” a heroine with remarkably expressive eyebrows, and a narrator whose clever observations make one laugh aloud (though preferably not in libraries, where such behaviour is discouraged).
Gifted readers shall find in Wendy a kindred spirit—someone who thinks differently, who questions everything, and who refuses to let others define her capabilities. The complete trilogy awaits, with The Navigator and The Captain continuing the adventure.
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
If one were to design a book specifically for children whose minds work rather differently from others, one could scarcely do better than this puzzle-filled adventure. Four gifted children—each brilliant in their own peculiar way—must use their extraordinary abilities to save the world from a villain transmitting mind-numbing messages through the wireless.
The children include a master of logical deduction, a boy with a photographic memory, a former circus performer with remarkable physical skills, and a very small girl whose stubbornness proves mightier than any weapon. They are all alone in the world, as gifted children so often feel, yet they find in each other the companionship they have always craved.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
More than sixty years after its creation, this tale of tessering through the cosmos continues to challenge and enchant young readers who appreciate being treated as the intelligent beings they are. Miss L’Engle never condescends; she explains concepts from theoretical physics and expects readers to follow along—and they do, magnificently.
Meg Murry is awkward and brilliant and angry, which is to say she is entirely real. Her journey to rescue her scientist father takes her across the universe, accompanied by her brother Charles Wallace (who is rather too clever for comfort) and various supernatural beings of considerable eccentricity.
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Imagine a book that makes mathematics and language into the most thrilling adventures imaginable, and you shall have some notion of this remarkable work. Young Milo begins thoroughly bored with everything—until a mysterious tollbooth appears in his room and transports him to the Kingdom of Wisdom.
There he meets the Spelling Bee (an actual bee who spells), the Humbug, and the Mathemagician, among other extraordinary personages. The wordplay runs so thick that adults often catch themselves laughing at jokes the children haven’t quite grasped yet, whilst the children are busy delighting in different jokes entirely.
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City contains many treasures, but none quite so unusual as two runaway children who take up residence among its galleries. Claudia and her brother Jamie flee the tedium of their ordinary lives and discover an art mystery that absolutely must be solved.
This tale rewards readers who notice details, who appreciate planning, and who understand that sometimes one runs away not from something dreadful but toward something extraordinary. The Newbery Medal it received was entirely deserved.
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
A puzzle wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a game—that is what awaits within these pages. Sixteen heirs to a fortune must solve the clues left by the peculiar Samuel W. Westing, and the solution requires the sharpest of wits indeed.
The book features four highly gifted teenagers among its cast of eccentrics and truth-seekers. Readers have been known to forget they are reading a novel at all, so absorbed do they become in solving the puzzle alongside the characters.
Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper
Eleven-year-old Melody possesses a photographic memory and a mind of extraordinary capability. She is also unable to walk, talk, or write due to cerebral palsy. Most people—teachers, doctors, classmates—dismiss her as intellectually limited because she cannot tell them otherwise.
This is a story about being underestimated, about having a brilliant mind trapped inside a body that will not cooperate, and about the devastating consequences when others cannot see past appearances. Gifted children who have ever felt misunderstood will find in Melody a deeply moving companion.
Matilda by Roald Dahl
Here is a child who taught herself to read at the age of three and had consumed every children’s book in the library before starting school. Her parents are dreadful (as parents in Dahl’s books so often are), her headmistress is terrifying, but her teacher Miss Honey recognizes what everyone else has missed.
When Matilda discovers she possesses a rather unusual power, she puts it to use against injustice with considerable satisfaction. This book understands what it feels like to be smarter than the adults around you and to wait impatiently for them to notice.
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
Harriet M. Welsch observes everything and records it faithfully in her notebook—the neighbours, her classmates, the peculiar inhabitants of her neighbourhood. She is training to be a writer, which requires one to be a truth-teller, even when the truth is uncomfortable.
When her classmates discover what she has written about them, Harriet faces the consequences of brutal honesty without tact. Gifted children who struggle with social nuances shall find in Harriet both a warning and a kindred spirit.
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Created by an author for his son who had been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia, this adventure reimagines Greek mythology for modern readers with brilliant ingenuity. In this world, ADHD represents battle reflexes inherited from the gods, and dyslexia means the brain is wired to read ancient Greek.
Twelve-year-old Percy discovers he is the son of Poseidon and must recover Zeus’s stolen lightning bolt before the gods go to war. The mythology is accurate, the adventure is relentless, and the message—that what makes you different makes you special—resonates profoundly.
The Giver by Lois Lowry
In a society that has eliminated pain, conflict, and choice, twelve-year-old Jonas is selected to receive the memories of all human history. What appears to be a perfect world reveals itself, through his eyes, to be something far more troubling.
This Newbery Medal winner asks enormous questions about freedom and security, about the cost of eliminating suffering, about what makes us truly human. Gifted readers who ponder philosophical questions shall find much to discuss.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Death narrates this story of a young German girl during the Second World War who steals books—first from a graveside, then from Nazi bonfires. The prose is poetic and devastating, the subject matter dark but illuminating.
Advanced readers ready for emotional depth and literary sophistication shall find this one of the most beautifully written books of our time. It was voted one of America’s all-time favourite books, and it earns that distinction on every page.
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
The government believes that gifted children may be humanity’s only hope against an alien invasion, and young Ender Wiggin is the most gifted of them all. Torn from his family and sent to Battle School, he must become the commander humanity needs—at considerable cost to his childhood.
This novel understands isolation and pressure and the experience of thinking in ways others cannot follow. Many gifted readers have declared it the first book that truly understood them.
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Four children step through a wardrobe and into a world of talking animals, noble battles, and ancient magic. The prose possesses the clarity of snowfall, and the adventures continue across seven volumes of increasing complexity.
These books have introduced generations of readers to the pleasures of fantasy literature, and they remain as enchanting today as when the first child pushed past the fur coats and discovered the lamp-post in the snow.
A Final Word on Feeding Hungry Minds
The gifted child does not merely read—they consume, they question, they return to passages again and again to extract every last drop of meaning. They deserve books that challenge their intellects whilst nourishing their hearts, that treat them as the intelligent beings they are, and that assure them they are not alone in thinking the thoughts they think.
Every book on this list has been loved by such children. May your own remarkable young reader find within these pages the adventures, the ideas, and the kindred spirits they seek.
For there is nothing quite so fine as the right book finding the right reader at precisely the right moment—it is a kind of magic all its own.
