Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee

I’ve had the ARC of Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee for almost three years now. When I first acquired it, I read about fifty pages before putting it down and deciding not to carry it at Shen’s Books, despite its subject matter (Chinese American girl protagonist) fitting perfectly into our catalog. I will admit, the problem I had with the book was entirely personal and was not related to the quality of Yee’s writing.

School Library Journal:

Millie, an 11-year-old with a genius IQ, is taking a college poetry class and waiting for her high school senior year. Because she never hesitates to show how much she knows about a particular subject, her peers tend to stay away. Millie's social ineptitude is a cause of concern for her parents. Against her will, she is enrolled in summer volleyball and enlisted to tutor Stanford Wong, a friend of the family. Into this mix enters Emily, a volleyball teammate and typical preteen. The girls become friends but Millie neglects to tell Emily about her genius status. Eventually the truth surfaces and Emily feels betrayed. Millie thinks that Emily is angry because she is smart, never realizing that the betrayal comes from her lack of trust in their friendship.

I am sure than many readers find Millicent hilarious, but I did not. Not that I was a child genius or anything, but as the only Chinese person in my entire school, one year younger than my peers, and getting high grades, other kids assumed I was. I spent my childhood trying not to be Millicent Min. I didn’t try to act dumb, but I was very conscious of making an effort not to seem conceited or showy about my grades.

Obviously, Millicent has no social skills, while I rather like to think I had some, at least. I couldn’t believe that anyone could be so deficient. For example, on the first day of volleyball, she raises her hand as the coach begins the practice.

“Excuse me?” I ventured, raising my hand once more. I was glad I had had the foresight to bring my tape measure. “I calculated that the net is several centimeters too high, making the conditions for playing less than perfect.”

Yes, I can see the humor there, but unfortunately, I can’t bring myself to laugh. I’m too angry at Millicent for being the Chinese Girl Everyone Hates. I’m also angry at Millicent for having such an inflated opinion of herself and her intellect when she is so clearly lacking in every other aspect of her life. And I’m mad at her parents for allowing her to become this way, and to graduate from high school at twelve when she hasn’t shown any signs of maturity.

Despite these things, I have decided to give the book another shot for two reasons. One is that a good friend of mine, an Asian-American woman and children’s fiction writer herself, thought it was well-written and a good read. She also said that she understood my feelings, and that the sequel, Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time, was better in that regard. And I can’t read the sequel without having read the first book!

The other reason is that I have been reading Lisa Yee’s blog recently, and I have really been enjoying Yee’s writing and her wit. It makes me want to try reading Millicent Min, Girl Genius from a perspective unburdened of all my childhood baggage. Because I admire Yee’s ability to touch readers of all ethnicities, to make twelve-year-old girls laugh at Millicent’s foibles, and to represent real, contemporary Asian Americans in children’s literature.

So I’m just about fifty pages in again, but this time I’m going to keep going. I’ll see Millicent through to the end.

Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee

Tags: children's+books Chinese+American child+genius Lisa+Yee