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Title details for Off the Charts by Ann Hulbert - Available

Off the Charts

The Hidden Lives and Lessons of American Child Prodigies

by Ann Hulbert
Kirsten Potter
Audiobook
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From the author of the widely praised Raising America—a compelling exploration of child genius told through the gripping stories of fifteen exceptionally gifted boys and girls, from a math wonder a century ago to young jazz and classical piano virtuosos today. A thought-provoking book for a time when parents anxiously aspire to raise "super children" and experts worry the nation is wasting the brilliant young minds it needs.
Ann Hulbert examines the lives of children whose rare accomplishments have raised hopes about untapped human potential and questions about how best to nurture it. She probes the changing role of parents and teachers, as well as of psychologists and a curious press. Above all, she delves into the feelings of the prodigies themselves, who push back against adults more as the decades proceed. Among the children are the math genius Norbert Wiener, founder of cybernetics, a Harvard graduate student at age fifteen; two girls, a poet and a novelist, whose published work stirred debate in the 1920s; the movie superstar Shirley Temple and the African American pianist and composer Philippa Schuyler; the chess champion Bobby Fischer; computer pioneers and autistic "prodigious savants"; and musical prodigies, present and past. Off the Charts also tells the surprising inside stories of Lewis Terman's prewar study of high-IQ children and of the postwar talent search begun at Johns Hopkins, and discovers what Tiger Mom Amy Chua really has to tell us. But in these moving stories, it is the children who deliver the most important messages.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    January 9, 2018

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780525500407
      • File size: 347774 KB
      • Duration: 12:04:31

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This engaging book about the lives of 15 gifted boys and girls is served well by Kirsten Potter's captivating performance. Speaking clearly in a tone that fits these narratives, she modulates the drama in her voice with taste and sensitive timing. The prodigies that Hulbert profiles are both well known and obscure, and they're all interesting. With her gift for narrative propelling these stories, she chronicles how these children's extraordinary talent complicated their relationships with parents and other authority figures, and provoked controversy about how society should relate to them. Their exceptionality changed almost everything about their lives and made normal character development and even career success challenging. With insights highly relevant to the challenges of raising any child, this is a must-hear for those who have young people in their care. T.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 4, 2017
      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.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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