Millicent Min, Girl Genius
First edition
AuthorLisa Yee
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish Or Spanish (there are different versions.)
GenreChildren's novel
PublisherArthur A. Levine Books
Publication date
October 1, 2003
Media typePrint
Pages256 pp (hardcover)
ISBN0-439-34257-0
OCLC51009159
LC ClassPZ7.H62964 Ki 2004

Millicent Min, Girl Genius is a 2003 children's novel by Lisa Yee. The author's first published book, it centers around a girl genius named Millicent Min who attends high school in the fictional town of Rancho Rosetta, California. This young girl has a lot of trouble in her social circle, hated by her peers and fellow students, she's an 11-year-old genius with no friends. To make things worse, she has to play volleyball and tutor her arch-enemy, Stanford Wong, who's flunking sixth grade. Then Millicent meets the nice Emily Ebers, a fellow volleyball victim, who has recently moved to California. Befriending Emily, Millicent thinks that to become her friend she has to hide the fact that she's smart and begins to invoke a series of lies. The rest of the novel is spent with Millicent trying to keep her secret from Emily while also having to deal with other problems such as her Grandmother Maddie moving away and having to deal with Stanford, especially when he finds out about Emily and befriends her as well.

In the companion books, Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time and So Totally Emily Ebers, this situation is shown from the other children's points of view.

Summary

Millicent Min has skipped five grades, has won third place at the National Math Bowl, has appeared on Jeopardy, and been featured in PBS specials and TIME Magazine; now, she is looking forward to becoming senior valedictorian and earning a scholarship to an Ivy League university- at age 11. Despite her young age, the socially inept Millicent has already completed 11th grade and is anticipating a summer of taking a college poetry course. However, Millicent's mother unexpectedly signs Millicent up for volleyball and assigns her a job tutoring Stanford Wong, a basketball player, in an effort to improve her social skills. In addition, Millicent's grandmother Maddie, her best and only friend, is leaving for England to attend a feng shui academy.

In volleyball, Millicent expects to be ostracized by her peers for her intelligence once more when she befriends Emily, an outgoing girl who has recently moved from New Jersey. In order to maintain her friendship with Emily, her first friend, Millicent believes she must hide her high IQ and pretend that she is home-schooled. She fears that Emily will treat her just like everyone else has if she learns that Millicent is a genius. When Emily finds Millicent and Stanford in the library at one of their tutoring sessions, Millicent acts as the failing student and treats Stanford as the genius.

Stanford agrees to pretend to be the tutor, as Stanford develops a crush on Emily, and out of a need to impress her, acts smart, believing that it is the only reason that Emily likes him. Both Stanford's and Millicent's lying to Emily bond them together helping them develop a friendly relationship.

One night, during a sleepover at Millicent's house, Emily finds out that Millicent is actually a genius when she discovers her hidden awards. Angry that Millicent had been hiding all this from her, she storms out of the house, breaking off their friendship. Emily even rejects Stanford after figuring out that he has also taken part in lying to Emily.

On top of all this, Millicent is also having problems at home. Her father is jobless, and her mother is showing symptoms of a potentially fatal brain tumor.

Eventually, after Millicent begins to come to terms with the problem and faces Emily, they quickly reconcile and become friends again after a few sincere apologies. After attending a Labor Day Fiesta, Millicent is also able to make amends with Stanford, who was able to pass his English Class after all. As the end of summer approaches, Millicent says goodbye to her Grandmother at the airport and discovers her dad has received a job at RadioShack. Millicent is also able to learn that her Mother is not sick but pregnant with her future sibling. As the final day of summer concludes, it's also revealed that Maddie will be traveling back home to welcome her new grandchild as Millicent finally falls asleep, "too happy and sad and tired to even think."

Awards and nominations

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