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.