Yee, Lisa. Millicent Min, Girl Genius. Scholastic Paperbacks (2004). ISBN-10: 0439425204

Plot Summary

Millicent Min, Girl Genius is Lisa Yee’s first novel about an eleven-year-old genius who is a social out cast. Millicent Min, also known as Millie, is funny and quirky. Millie happens to be having a bad summer. She is hated by her peers for going to high school and setting the curve, her grandmother Maddie is moving, and her parents signed her up for volleyball. To top it off she has to tutor Stanford Wong. However, Millie’s summer takes a turn for the better when she meets Emily. Emily thinks Millie’s cool, but she doesn’t know she’s a genius. Millie worries constantly that Emily will find out. They quickly become best friends, but Emily becomes terribly upset when she finds out Millie has lied to her. Throughout the novel, Millie thinks her mother is dying throughout the story. It turns out towards the end of the book that Millie’s mom was pregnant!

Critical Evaluation

This book is hysterically funny. Millicent's ridiculous antics and over the top way of thinking truly make this book a laugh-out-loud comic. Her interactions with other children are realistic, and her fears are honest fears that students her age encounter.

Reader's Annotation

Millicent Min is smarter than most people she knows, and she is considered a social out cast. That is, of course, before she meets Emily.

About the Author

Growing up, Lisa attended Alhambra High School in California, and she was on the debate team and a member of the honor society. At USC, she majored in English and Humanities. During her time at USC, Lisa interned at KCET, the L.A. PBS station, and she worked on an interactive kid’s magazine. After college, Lisa held numerous positions, some including: copywriter, associate director of a creative think tank, account executive for 7-Up Foods, and writer/producer for Walt Disney World.

Today, Lisa Yee is the author of Millicent Min, Girl Genius, Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time, So Totally Emily Ebers, and Good Luck, Ivy! Her novels have received numerous honors. Her first novel, Millicent Min, Girl Genius, won the Sid Fleishchman Humor Award.

Genre

Realistic Ficiton (humor)

Curriculum Ties

Language Arts, Social Science

Booktalking Ideas

Millicent Min is a girl genius who is having a terrible summer. She has no friends, she finds out that her grandmother is moving, and she discovers that she has to tutor Stanford Wong. On page 52 she says, “It isn’t just that Sanford is stupid, it’s that he’s spectacularly stupid. Words float in through one ear and out the other. Books go unread.” If you’d like to know more about Millie, then read Millicent Min: Girl Genius by Lisa Yee.

Reading Level/Interest Age

Ages 8+

Reason for Book Selection

I have spent the last several years teaching students who are considered “gifted.” Millicent’s quirkiness reminds me of many of my own students throughout the years.