Genius — Clare Nonhebel

A story of ordinary uniqueness.
Eldred Jones taught himself to read at the age of five. This would not have qualified him as a child genius, except for three significant facts: Eldred had spent all five years of his life in an oxygen tent, he had not spoken a single word since birth, and the book he was reading was a medical textbook.
Three gifted children: boy genius Eldred, acrobat Lulubelle and disabled visionary Keith are all learning to survive in a world that expects them to be normal.
Eldred's parents, baffled by a child who dabbles in complex mathematical equations and designs potentially lucrative recycling systems, wish he could be more ordinary.
Lulubelle's ambition for stardom is compromised by having to be the adult in the relationship with her unpredictable mother. And Keith needs his family to accept that surgeons' attempts to correct his physical disabilities may not be improving his life.
Their stories weave in and out until the three of them finally meet. Despite their differences they find common ground in their unusualness and form a strong friendship.
But, in the threads running through their life stories, is there a link between them that nobody knows about?