Off the Charts: The Hidden Lives and Lessons of American Child Prodigies

Through the experiences of 15 remarkably gifted children and their parents, Hulbert (Raising America) sheds some light on the lives of child prodigies. Her subjects range from early 20th-century math phenomenon Norbert Wiener to extraordinary modern-day pianist Marc Yu. Along with profiling individuals, Hulbert explores various aspects of the experiences of child prodigies as a whole, including their tendency to “thrive on receptive culture,” the connection of young genius to autism and autism-spectrum disorder, and the drive and extreme focus common to gifted children, characteristics that can lead to defiant behavior and that don’t always “transfer seamlessly to school, or to life,” as evidenced by the example of chess master Bobby Fischer. Hulbert stresses that extraordinarily gifted children are not adults, although they are often treated as though they were. She also points out that gifted children are often micromanaged, missing out on the opportunity to “obsess on their own idiosyncratic terms” and grow and learn from their mistakes. Although the subjects and material are intriguing, Hulbert’s writing can be academic, keeping the reader at an arm’s length from the children’s stories. (Jan. 2018)