Gifted Girls’ Passion for Fiction: The Quest for Meaning, Growth, and Self-Actualization

Abstract

To illuminate the nature of the relationship that very able girls have with fiction, this is an interpretive account of the meanings that reading fiction holds for verbally gifted preadolescent girls. Ethnographic field methods were used to uncover the essences of the reading experience in the contexts of their daily lives. Data sources included the researcher’s field notes, the girls’ taped book discussions, parent interviews, and the girls’ reading journals. Major findings were that the girls read and make meaning in and around three interconnected areas of intelligence and intensity: intellectual, imaginational, and emotional. As they read fiction, the girls engage in a process of determined growth in each of these domains of human awareness. The girls challenge themselves with difficult literature, critical and empathic thinking, and problem finding. As the girls read and make meaning, they are involved in constructing their lives’ purpose. They are youthful self-actualizers. Putting the Research to Use Educators should understand the powerful place that fiction holds in the lives of young gifted readers. The verbally gifted learners of this report were passionate about fiction. The girls used fiction as they constructed meaning in and around three domains of human awareness: intellectual, imaginational, and emotional. They read with an intensity that led them to choose challenging fiction to gather knowledge and explore issues, create vivid images, and make connections with characters and authors. The girls experienced flow while reading, which led to an inclination as well as a determination to read. Time spent in solitude reading fiction helped the girls overcome adversity, allowed them to resist enculturation, and caused them to question the split between the way things are and they way things should be. The girls used fiction to self-educate as they began to realize their lives’ purpose.