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We just finished the book, Yolonda’s Genius by Carol Fenner.  In this book, a fat, young, Black girl named Yolonda decides that her younger brother is an undiscovered genius.

Andrew is an outstanding harmonica player, and only 6 years old.  The music seems to flow through him.  He was a slow learner, very young, very shy, and very quiet.  Because of this, their mama would not believe that he is a genius.  Yolanda has to come up with a plan to show her mama, and world, Andrew’s genius.

In this book Carol Fenner showed how genius is not always obvious. Most people think of a genius as someone who is very academically smart. A math prodigy for example. Just because they are smart does not mean they are a genius. Unless this math prodigy has the ability to look at old math theories for example and create a whole new theory based on the old one, unless he can do that he is not a genius. Just knowing all the already known facts does not make you a genius.

People might look at Andrew, a small young boy who doesn’t even know how to read music yet, and they might not think of him as a genius. But he is. Yolanda is also a genius and she does not even recognize herself as one. She was able to look at the definition of a genius in a dictionary and recognize Andrew as a genius. She then also comes up with great ideas to get Andrew recognized. She made it happen. She pretended to be a lost child so that she could get back stage at the blues festival, then she got Andrew on stage and he played his harmonica. She is also a true genius.

Andrew reminds me of the other famous Rock  and Roll artists that we learned about at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  He is an outsider, and not like everyone else.  Other than Yolonda, no one understands him.

He was also very amazing at music.  For example, he hears popping toast and turns it into a song.  He has the ability to rearrange old material in a way never seen before.   All the best Rock and Roll musicians have this ability.  This means that you take old chords from old songs and mix them together to make a new song.  That is what music is all about.  Andrew is a child prodigy, and just like all Rock and Roll heroes, a true genius.

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