Child Prodigy: Difference between revisions

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== Alternate Reality Games ==

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* [[Older Than They Think]]: one of the first novels to feature a Child Prodigy was ''The Hampdenshire Wonder'' in 1911. The protagonist is not only a genius, but a truly [[Super Intelligence|superintelligent]] little kid who judges the whole human culture an "elementary, inchoate, disjunctive patchwork"... at age ''[[Up to Eleven|four and a half]]''. He's right, and [[TV Tropes]] proves it.

* Reynie from ''[[The Mysterious Benedict Society]]''

** Actually, all four members of the Mysterious Benedict Society (with the possible exception of Kate, who is less [[Book Smart]], but has plenty of skills and general intelligence to make up for it) were chosen specifically because they were some version of this trope. Constance, however, takes the cake. Sure, she's stubborn, sleepy, and slightly bratty- she's also {{spoiler|~~TWO~~ ~~YEARS~~ ~~OLD~~.}}

** Actually, all four members of the Mysterious Benedict Society (with the possible exception of Kate, who is less [[Book Smart]], but has plenty of skills and general intelligence to make up for it) were chosen specifically because they were some version of this trope. Constance, however, takes the cake. Sure, she's stubborn, sleepy, and slightly bratty- she's also {{spoiler|''two years old''.}}

* Jon Masters from [[Dale Brown]]'s books was a child prodigy in the past who's retained his genius in adulthood. In ''Wings of Fire'' it turns out that {{spoiler|Dr. Kelsey Duffield}} is actually a nine year-old girl.

* Dairine from the ''[[Young Wizards]]'' series. At age 3 she decided that she was going to learn '''everything''', by age 4 she taught herself to read, and by age 5 was reading from encyclopedias all by herself.

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* The Blue Children from Stephen Baxter's ''[[Manifold Time]]'', transformed through the influence of a civilization in the distant future. "Prodigy" doesn't even begin to describe how frighteningly advanced (and creepy) they are.

* Euphemia in ''My Godawful Life'' by Michael Kelly

* The [[Thursday Next]] books have Tuesday.

* The ''[[Thursday Next]]'' books have Tuesday.

* Star Holmes, in the Mark Clifton novella ''[http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b27354/Star-Bright--Other-Science-Fiction/Mark-Clifton/?si=0 Star Bright]''. At three she constructed a Moebius Strip and while she didn't know what it was called, she knew what it did. By age five she was an accomplished time traveler. Clifton wrote many stories and novels, but is remembered for this one. It became an ''X Minus One'' [http://www.archive.org/download/XMinus1_A/xminusone_560417_Jaywalker.mp3 radio play].

* Charles Wallace Murray in the Madeline L'Engle book [[A Wrinkle in Time]] is this, though only his family knows it. Since he refused to talk until age four, and refuses to talk to those who aren't family, he is labeled as "dumb" by the townsfolk. In reality, he's incredibly bright. His mother reads him medical journals as bedtime reading, and he is also able to decipher people's emotions. As a result, he has a hard time relating to his peers. When he does display his intelligence, he is told he is a liar or to stop showing off. He also has a problem with being bullied. However, he still shows signs of being a child; he is incredibly proud of his intelligence and thinks himself, at times, infallible. He is warned against it by the Ladies, though it eventually leads to his ~~posession~~ by IT.

* Charles Wallace Murray in the Madeline L'Engle book ''[[A Wrinkle in Time]]'' is this, though only his family knows it. Since he refused to talk until age four, and refuses to talk to those who aren't family, he is labeled as "dumb" by the townsfolk. In reality, he's incredibly bright. His mother reads him medical journals as bedtime reading, and he is also able to decipher people's emotions. As a result, he has a hard time relating to his peers. When he does display his intelligence, he is told he is a liar or to stop showing off. He also has a problem with being bullied. However, he still shows signs of being a child; he is incredibly proud of his intelligence and thinks himself, at times, infallible. He is warned against it by the Ladies, though it eventually leads to his possession by IT.

* Leonard Stecyk in [[The Pale King]]. At 11 years old, he participates in the Meals on Wheels charity, volunteers as a crosswalk guard and hall monitor, donates his ice cream money to UNICEF, has been to origami camp twice, writes letters to publishers about textbook errors, fields all calls and inquiries with regards to his mother's hospitalization, attempts to reorganize his homeroom's seating structure for maximum efficiency, and writes individualized letters of apologies to his bullies. He also intentionally gets a few Bs on his report card solely to ensure he never gets too prideful of being an overachiever.

* Leonard Stecyk in ''[[The Pale King]]''. At 11 years old, he participates in the Meals on Wheels charity, volunteers as a crosswalk guard and hall monitor, donates his ice cream money to UNICEF, has been to origami camp twice, writes letters to publishers about textbook errors, fields all calls and inquiries with regards to his mother's hospitalization, attempts to reorganize his homeroom's seating structure for maximum efficiency, and writes individualized letters of apologies to his bullies. He also intentionally gets a few Bs on his report card solely to ensure he never gets too prideful of being an overachiever.

* Bertie Pollock, five-year-old, Italian-speaking saxophonist in the ''44 Scotland Street'' series by Alexander McCall Smith. He [[I Just Want to Be Normal|Just Wants To Be Normal]], but has a [[My Beloved Smother|Beloved Smother]] who, despite being an amateur child psychologist, cannot understand this (and also sees an ''actual'' [[The Shrink|child psychologist]] who's even worse).

* ''Millicent Min: Girl Genius'' by Lisa Yee is about an 11-year-old high school senior who is forced to tutor her archenemy who flunked the 6th grade and play volleyball over the summer in order to socialize with normal people her age.

* Clark Fries in ''[[Podkayne of Mars]]'' is 11 Earth years old, much more worldly and cynical than his 15-year-old sister Podkayne, is skipped at manipulating adults who don't know him -- and is technically skilled enough to identify and disarm a tactical nuclear warhead.

== Live Action TV ==