This list was put together with gifted young readers (ages 8-12) in mind, with a special section for books that are appropriate for the more sensitive readers.

Contemporary | Historical | Alternate History | Mythology | Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Gifted Young Reader (Sensitive)

 

Contemporary Fiction

• Catherine Atkins – Alt Ed (2003).
• Cynthia DeFelice – The Ghost of Fossil Glen (1998) and others.
• Kate DiCamillo – Because of Winn-Dixie (2000).
• Jack Gantos – Joey Pigza Loses Control (2000) and sequels.
• Brent Hartinger – The Last Chance Texaco (2004).
• Carl Hiaasen – Hoot (2002).
• Will Hobbs – Downriver (1991), The Maze (1998).
• James Howe – The Misfits (2001), Totally Joe (2005), Addie on the Inside (2011).
• Jeanette Ingold – Mountain Solo (2003).
• Kathe Koja – Buddha Boy (2003).
• Gordon Korman – No More Dead Dogs (2002), Swindle (2008), and more.
• Amy Goldman Koss – The Girls (2000).
• David Lubar – Dog Days (2004).
• Ann M. Martin – Belle Teal (2001), A Corner of the Universe (2002).
• Joyce Carol Oates – Big Mouth & Ugly Girl (2002), Freaky Green Eyes (2003).
• Rodman Philbrick – Freak the Mighty (1993), Max the Mighty (1998).
• Louis Sachar – Holes (1998).
• Sherri L. Smith – Lucy the Giant (2002).
• Jerry Spinelli – Maniac Magee (1990), There’s a Girl in My Hammerlock (1991).
• Rebecca Stead – First Light (2007), When You Reach Me (2009).

 

Historical Fiction

• Richard Adams – Traveller (1988).
• Laurie Halse Anderson – Chains (2008), Forge (2010).
• Adam Bagdasarian – Forgotten Fire (2000).
• Michael Cadnum – Ship of Fire (2003).
• James Clavell – Shōgun (1975, Mature).
• Chris Crowe – Mississippi Trial, 1955 (2002).
• Arthur Conan Doyle – The Valley of Fear (1915).
• Esther Forbes – Johnny Tremain (1943).
• Margaret Peterson Haddix – Uprising (2007).
• Barbara Hambly – A Free Man of Color (1997, Mature).
• Robert Harris – Pompeii (2003).
• Dorothy Hoobler & Thomas Hoobler – The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn (1999).
• Jeanette Ingold – Pictures, 1918 (1998), The Big Burn (2002).
• Catherine Jinks – Pagan’s Crusade (1992) and sequels.
• Harper Lee – To Kill a Mockingbird (1960).
• Geraldine McCaughrean – The Kite Rider (2001).
• Eloise Jarvis McGraw – Mara, Daughter of the Nile (1953).
• Patricia McKissack – A Picture of Freedom: The Diary of Clotee, a Slave Girl, Belmont Plantation, Virginia, 1859 (1997), Color Me Dark: The Diary of Nellie Lee Love, the Great Migration North (2000).
• Ellis Peters – A Morbid Taste for Bones (1977).
• John Maddox Roberts – SPQR I: The King’s Gambit (1990).
• Kenneth Roberts – Rabble in Arms (1933, Mature).
• Laura Amy Schlitz – Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village (2007).
• Elizabeth George Speare – The Witch of Blackbird Pond (1958).
• Judith Tarr – Throne of Isis (1994, Mature), Queen of Swords (1997, Mature).
• Leon Uris – Mila 18 (1961, Mature).
• Alison Weir – The Children of Henry VII (1996, Non-fiction).

 

Alternate History

• Gary Blackwood – The Year of the Hangman (2002).
• Orson Scott Card – Seventh Son (1987).
• Eric Flint – 1632 (2000, Mature).
• Eric Flint & David Drake – An Oblique Approach (1998, Mature) and sequels.
• John Maddox Roberts – Hannibal’s Children (2002).
• Harry Turtledove – The Guns of the South (1992, Mature).

 

Mythology

• Lloyd Alexander – The Chronicles of Prydain series is based on the Welsh Mabinogion, and includes: The Book of Three (1964), The Black Cauldron (1965), The Castle of Llyr (1966), Taran Wanderer (1967), The High King (1968).
• K. A. Applegate – Search for Senna (1999) and others in the Everworld series.
• Marion Zimmer Bradley – The Firebrand (1987, Mature).
• Thomas Bulfinch – Bulfinch’s Mythology (1855).
• Caroline B. Cooney – Goddess of Yesterday (2002).
• Roberta Cray – The Sword and the Lion (1993),
• Charles de Lint – Someplace to Be Flying (1998, Mature).
• Priscilla Galloway – Snake Dreamer (1998).
• Edith Hamilton – Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes (1942).
• Homer – The Iliad (~8^th century BC), The Odyssey (~8^th century BC).
• Guy Gavriel Kay –The Fionavar Tapestry: The Summer Tree (1984, Mature), The Wandering Fire (1986, Mature), The Darkest Road (1986, Mature).
• Patrice Kindl – Lost in the Labyrinth (2002).
• Jane Lindskold – Changer (1998, Mature), Legends Walking (1999, Mature).
• Clemence McLaren – Inside the Walls of Troy: A Novel of the Women Who Lived the Trojan War (1996).
• Patricia Miles – The Gods in Winter (1978).
• Donna Jo Napoli – Sirena (2000).
• Mary Renault – The King Must Die (1958, Mature), The Bull from the Sea (1962, Mature).
• Josepha Sherman – Merlin’s Kin (1998).
• Margaret Simpson – Mahabharata (2000).
• Cynthia Voigt – Orfe (1992).
• Evangeline Walton – The Mabinogion Tetralogy retells the Welsh mythological saga for older readers, and includes: The Virgin and the Swine/Island of the Mighty (1936), The Children of Llyr (1971), The Song of Rhiannon (1972), Prince of Annwn (1974).

 

Sci-Fi & Fantasy

• M. T. Anderson – Feed (2002).
• Isaac Asimov – I, Robot (1950), Caves of Steel (1954).
• Beth Bernobich – Fox and Phoenix (2011).
• Ray Bradbury – The Illustrated Man (1951), Fahrenheit 451 (1953).
• Lois McMaster Bujold – The Warrior’s Apprentice (1986).
• Isobelle Carmody– Obernewtyn (1987).
• Bruce Coville – My Teacher is an Alien (1989) and sequels, I Left My Sneakers in Dimension X (1994) and others, Into the Land of the Unicorns (1994) and the sequels.
• Bruce Coville (Editor) – Bruce Coville’s Book of Monsters: Tales to Give You the Creeps (1993), Bruce Coville’s Book of Aliens: Tales to Warp Your Mind (1994), Bruce Coville’s Book of Nightmares: Tales to Make You Scream (1995), Bruce Coville’s Alien Visitors (1999), Bruce Coville’s Strange Worlds (2000), Bruce Coville’s UFOs (2000), Half-Human (2001).
• Paula Danziger– This Place Has No Atmosphere (1986).
• Peter Dickinson– Eva (1988).
• Debra Doyle & James D. Macdonald – Groogleman (1996).
• Diane Duane– So You Want to Be a Wizard (1983) and the rest of the Young Wizards series.
• Nancy Farmer – The Eye, the Eye, and the Arm (1994), The House of the Scorpion (2002).
• John Flanagan – The Ruins of Gorlan (2004) and others in the Ranger’s Apprentice series.
• Neil Gaiman – Odd and the Frost Giants (2008), The Graveyard Book (2008).
• Alison Goodman – Singing the Dogstar Blues (1998).
• Margaret Peterson Haddix – Among the Hidden (1998) and sequels, Just Ella (1999), Turnabout (2000).
• Shannon Hale – The Goose Girl (2003) and others in the Books of Bayern series, Princess Academy (2005), Book of a Thousand Days (2007).
• Robert A. Heinlein – Space Cadet (1948), Red Planet (1949), The Star Beast (1954), Tunnel in the Sky (1955), Have Space Suit—Will Travel (1958).
• H. M. Hoover– The Winds of Mars (1995)
• Monica Hughes– The Keeper of the Isis Light (1980), Invitation to the Game (1990).
• Catherine Jinks – Evil Genius (2005) and sequels.
• Diana Wynne Jones – Cart and Cwidder (1975), Charmed Life (1977), Archer’s Goon (1984), Howl’s Moving Castle (1986), Year of the Griffin (2000), and many more!
• Patrice Kindl – Owl in Love (1993).
• Annette Curtis Klause – Alien Secrets (1993).
• Nancy Kress – Beggars in Spain (1993, Mature), Maximum Light (1998, Mature).
• Ingrid Law – Savvy (2008), Scumble (2010).
• Madeleine L’Engle – A Wrinkle in Time (1962).
• Gail Carson Levine – Ella Enchanted (1997), The Two Princesses of Bamarre (2001).
• David Lubar – Hidden Talents (1999) and True Talents (2007), In the Land of the Lawn Weenies: And Other Warped and Creepy Tales (2003) and the Weenies series, Flip (2003), My Rotten Life (2009) and the Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie series, and more.
• Lisa Mantchev – Eyes Like Stars (2009) and sequels.
• John Marsden – Tomorrow, When the War Began (1993).
• China Miéville – Un Lun Dun (2007).
• Garth Nix – Shade’s Children (1997), Mister Monday (2003) and the rest of the Keys to the Kingdom series.
• Robert C. O’Brien– Z for Zachariah (1974).
• Kenneth Oppel – Airborn (2004), Skybreaker (2005), Starclimber (2008).
• George Orwell – 1984 (1949).
• Rodman Philbrick – The Last Book in the Universe (2002).
• Terry Pratchett – The Tiffany Aching series, particularly The Wee Free Men (2003), A Hat Full of Sky (2004), and I Shall Wear Midnight (2010).
• Sarah Prineas – The Magic Thief (2008) and sequels.
• Pamela F. Service – Winter of Magic’s Return (1985) and sequels.
• Delia Sherman – Changeling (2006), The Magic Mirror of the Mermaid Queen (2009).
• William Sleator – House of Stairs (1974), Interstellar Pig (1984) and its sequel Parasite Pig (2002), Singularity (1985), and more.
• Caroline Stevermer – River Rats (1992), Magic Below Stairs (2010).
• Stephanie S. Tolan – Welcome to the Ark (1996), Flight of the Raven (2001).
• Vivian Vande Velde– Dragon’s Bait (1992), Smart Dog (1998), Never Trust a Dead Man (1999), Heir Apparent (2002), and many more!
• Jules Verne – From the Earth to the Moon (1865), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1870).
• H. G. Wells – The Time Machine (1895), The War of the Worlds (1898).
• Connie Willis – Doomsday Book (1992, Mature).
• N. D. Wilson – 100 Cupboards (2007) and sequels.

 

Gifted Young Reader (Sensitive)

• Lloyd Alexander– The Book of Three (1964) and the rest of the Chronicles of Prydain series.
• Frank Cammuso – Knights of the Lunch Table #1: The Dodgeball Chronicles (2008) and sequels (Graphic Novels).
• Bruce Coville – The Monster’s Ring (1982), My Teacher is an Alien (1989), Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher (1992), Jennifer Murdley’s Toad (1992), My Teacher Flunked the Planet (1992), I Left My Sneakers in Dimension X (1994), Song of the Wanderer (1999), Juliet Dove, Queen of Love (2003), and more.
• Kate DiCamillo – Because of Winn-Dixie (2000).
• Diane Duane – So You Want to Be a Wizard (1983) and the rest of the Young Wizards series.
• Sarah Beth Durst – Into the Wild (2007), Out of the Wild (2008).
• Edward Eager – Half Magic (1954), Knight’s Castle (1956), The Time Garden (1958) and more.
• Esther Forbes – Johnny Tremain (1943).
• Esther Friesner – The Princesses of Myth Series: Nobody’s Princess (2007) and Nobody’s Prize (2008), about Helen of Troy; Sphinx’s Princess (2009) and Sphinx’s Queen (2010), about Nefertiti; Spirit’s Princess (2012), about Himiko.
• Neil Gaiman – Odd and the Frost Giants (2008).
• Jack Gantos – Joey Pigza Loses Control (2000) and sequels.
• Shannon Hale – Princess Academy (2005).
• Diana Wynne Jones – Charmed Life (1977), Year of the Griffin (2000), and many more!
• Patricia MacLachlan – Sarah, Plain and Tall (1985).
• Louis Sachar – Holes (1998).
• Delia Sherman – Changeling (2006), The Magic Mirror of the Mermaid Queen (2009).
• Zilpha Keatley Snyder – The Egypt Game (1967), The Gypsy Game (1997), and many more!
• Rebecca Stead – First Light (2007), When You Reach Me (2009).
• Holly Webb – Dog Magic (2008).
• Laura Ingalls Wilder – Little House on the Prairie (1935) and sequels.