The 14 Fibs of Gregory K. by Greg Pincus

 

I really liked the way math and Gregory's father played an integral part of the plot of The 14 Fibs of Gregory K. Gregory K is the middle child in a family of math geniuses, but somehow the math gene seemed to escape him.  Coming from a fantasy and adventure reading background parents are usually absent or missing in the books that I read.  Yet, in The 14 Fibs of Gregory K, Gregory's father provides that adult role model that Gregory wants to be like. Competing in the Citywide math contest is a family tradition after all.  Gregory just doesn't have the same passion or mathematical skills as his dad and doesn't really know how to tell him. Gregory soon tells one fib after another to try and make up for his math deficiencies.  He tells his father and teacher that he's entered in the math contest, and his best friend Kelly that he is going with her to Author Camp over the summer.  To make matters worse, Gregory is failing math and unless he can get a passing grade, none of his plans can come true.  But,  Gregory's abilities are in writing poetry.  In the end, Gregory is going to have to rely on himself to solve the problems that he created and he learns a nice lesson about being honest with ourselves as well as with others. One of my favorite parts of the story is how Gregory's math teacher realizes that in order to help him "get math," he assigns Gregory to keep a math journal where he is to write about how math impacts him daily.  It kinda reminds me of Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Not Reading and My Life as a Book but this time about math.    Overall, I really enjoyed the story and learned a lot about the Fibonacci Sequence and even about Parson Mason Weems, who came up with the famous tale about George Washington chopping down the cherry tree.    My favorite poem was this one:
                                       Math
                                     Speaks
                                    The Truth,
                                  Follows rules.
                             I can't make things up,
                        Since numbers do not tell stories.



Many thanks to the publisher and Goodreads for my hardcover of the book for review. 

**As a side note after reading the book I received this link from a friend with some wonderful more information on the Fibonacci Sequence  http://fractalenlightenment.com/15458/fractals/understanding-the-fibonacci-sequence-and-golden-ratio