5
Finished Gifted by Nikita Lalwani for the Dewey's Books reading challenge. (Click here to read Dewey's review.)
This book is about an Indian family living in Wales. The parents (Mahesh and Shreene) learn that their daughter (Rumi) is basically a genius at math. So math becomes her whole life. After school, she has to go to the library and work on math problems for two hours. She's not allowed to talk to anyone, even if she runs into someone she knows from school--she just has to focus on the math problems. (In case of an emergency, she is allowed to talk to the librarian.)
The book raises really interesting questions--if you are gifted at something, is it your responsibility to focus on that one thing, in exclusion of everything else in your life? And if you have a genius kid, should you really nurture that gift--as in to the exclusion of everything else--or should the child be allowed to do what they want with their life?
Recommended.
