She’s ecstatic when a student at the local community college becomes her friend for the sole reason to use Millie to do her psychology homework. Because of it, almost no one wants her as a friend. Millie is often left out, not for any logical reason she can comprehend but rather she’s disliked for breaking and setting new grading curves that every other student older than her must meet. She can excel beyond that of even current college students but totally clueless when it comes to a social life. Currently, Millie is only 11-years-old, literally a genius, or that’s what the tests say.

She started high school when she was only 10-years-old, managed to skip another grade and will be graduating high school next school year. Millie learned to read when she was only three years old and by the time she entered kindergarten she was kicked out because she was too smart. The smarter you are the harder it can be.

Subjects: Gifted children, friendship, Chinese Americans, Diaries, School, Volleyball. Yee re-examines the terms 'smart' and 'dumb,' while offering a heartfelt story full of wit. How can she regain Emily's trust? Millicent's unique personality-a blend of rationality and naïveté-makes for some hilarious moments as the young protagonist interacts with a cast of colorful characters including her athletic, down-to-earth mother, her laid-back father, and her beloved grandmother, who borrows sage advice from the television show, Kung Fu. When Emily turns her back on Millicent for pretending to be someone she's not, Millicent must solve a problem more difficult than any math equation or test question.

Not wanting to jeopardize her precious new friendship, Millicent keeps her mental capabilities a secret as might be expected, deception soon leads to disaster. Even though the narrator abhors the idea of playing a team sport ('As I see it, my childhood is round enough,' she remarks), going to practice does give her the opportunity to form a solid camaraderie with new-girl-in-town Emily, who hates volleyball as much as Millicent does. In an attempt to give her daughter 'a more normal and well-rounded childhood,' Millicent's mother signs her up for a volleyball league. Millicent breezes through high school and college classes, but when it comes to making friends her own age, she's at a loss. Readers don't have to share Millicent Min's IQ to empathize with the 11-year-old genius narrator featured in this energetic first novel.

Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee