Apparently being a girl genius is not all its cracked up to be. At least according to Millicent Min, certified prodigy. Millicent is gearing up for the summer before her last year of high school, wherein she's planning to take a college class, but Millicent is only 11. Millicent can't wait to get to college where she can interact with her intellectual peers (her words, not mine). But then her mother signs her up for a volleyball team to help her make friends her own age, and she's suckered into tutoring Stanford Wong, who's flunked grade 6 English. The summer is not turning out as planned.

Its fairly obvious from the get go that Millicent is going to learn some lessons in this book, namely the importance of friends and that as much fun as school is, its not all there is to life. But that's okay, because Lisa Yee has created such an endearingly blind character, that you spend most of your time cheering Millicent on. When Millicent meets Emily, I was almost as excited as she was; her frustration at Stanford's lack of interest in Number the Stars was totally understandable; and her inability to see what's going on when it comes to her parents cracked me up.

And now I'm going to sit down and read the companion book, Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time.

Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee
ISBN 0439771315
248 pages