The article explores the cultural potential of reading as one of the factors in the development of children's giftedness. The role of the book as the bearer of culture in the process of preserving national identity is revealed. The authors of the article discover the growing importance of family reading in the process of a gifted person development. The survey of respondents, university teachers living in multiethnic environment in the territories of Armenia and the Republic of Tatarstan, confirmed the importance of national literature in future teachers training. The question of the correlation of such phenomena as globalization and the preservation of national identity is touched upon.