The 14 fibs of Gregory K.

Gregory K. Pincus

Book - 2013

Gregory Korenstein-Jasperton is an eleven-year-old boy who likes to write stories and poems and is not excited by math, but he has a problem--he is the middle child in a family of math geniuses and his father expects him to participate in the City Math contest.

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Review by Booklist Review

Math-hater Gregory tries very hard to fit in with his math-loving family, even though what he really enjoys is writing and sharing poetry with his best friend, Kelly. His failing math scores mean that he has to spend summer at math camp, ruining his plans for the summer at author camp with Kelly. Still trying to find a way out, Gregory begins telling fibs to make those around him think that math camp is, indeed, the plan, and the ensuing mayhem caused by multiple lies creates enough action and intrigue to keep readers fully engaged. The solution to Gregory's dilemma involves poetry designed using the Fibonacci sequence, and each chapter heading is a Fibonacci-sequence poem that forecasts Gregory's fibs. This delightful novel introduces a resourceful and inspiring young character, and many readers will relate to Gregory's desire for creative expression and his yearning for acceptance.--Edmundson, Martha Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Everyone in Gregory's family adores math-everyone, that is, except Gregory. While his parents and siblings live for the yearly City Math contest, Gregory prefers writing, especially poetry. Gregory has promised his best friend Kelly that he will attend Author Camp with her, despite not having asked his parents. When his math teacher announces that Gregory may fail math, it might as well be the fall of Rome as far as Gregory's parents are concerned-and it results in Gregory constructing an outrageous lie that threatens to backfire. Gregory is a buoyant narrator whose extreme math phobia and obsessive love of pie (and definitely not pi) give his character an idiosyncratic shine. Hyperbolic details, like his mother's "Weird Wednesday" family dinners, are interspersed with passages from Gregory's extra credit math journal, where his ruminations on the Fibonacci sequence and "Fib poetry" give readers access to deeper reflections on mathematics, metaphor, and the places where they might overlap. Pincus's story explores struggles with friends, family, and learning while remaining exuberant and relatable, a winning equation. Ages 8-12. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.


Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 4-6-Eleven-year-old Gregory K.'s parents, older brother, and younger sister love math and talking about it, but Gregory hates it. All he wants to do is write, spend time with his friend Kelly, and eat pie. When it turns out that Kelly is moving over the summer and that she wants him to join her at Author's Camp, Gregory lurches from one misstep to another as he tries but fails to ask for permission to go to the camp. And in a desperate effort to keep from having to go to math camp instead, he volunteers for the City Math contest, which his brother has won multiple times. Along the way Gregory lies to his parents and his math teacher about loving math, and lies to Kelly about having gotten permission to go to camp, until he figures out a solution that involves poetry, Fibonacci, and telling the truth. Gregory is a reasonably sympathetic, realistic kid who keeps convincing himself that he has things under control even as they slide toward disaster. This lighthearted look at the relationship between poetry and math is fun in places, but the sometimes forced math humor and the somewhat stilted dialogue and narrative style will limit the book's audience.-Sue Giffard, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York City (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review

Eleven-year-old Gregory doesn't love math, but everyone in his family does. He yearns to go to Author Camp with his best friend, Kelly. To please his family, he tells a series of lies and then has to fix the resulting problems. Unconvincing secondary characters weaken the plot, but the story might appeal to those who feel they just don't fit in. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

The addition of math-contest pressure and the impending subtraction of a best friend equal a stressful sixth-grade year for Gregory Korenstein-Jasperton. Gregory's lifelong pretense that he loves math as much as the rest of his familyreally, he prefers writingcatches up with him when long division eludes him. Worse, Kelly, his best friend and writing buddy, is moving at the end of the year. Of course, they can see each other at Author's Camp in the summer, if Gregory does well in school. Extra credit for entering the City Math contest might improve his math grade. It would certainly please his father, the first contest winner. This family and friendship story is the author's first novel. Each chapter begins with a poem in a form that will be familiar to readers of his poetry. These "fibs" have six lines with their syllable count based on the Fibonacci sequence: 1,1,2,3,5,8,13. They chronicle Gregory's state of mind and contribute to the final, satisfactory solution. Dialogue and humor carry the third-person narrative along swiftly, and the characters are appealing. It is unusual to meet a family in middle-grade fiction that enjoys playing math games at the table, and it's refreshing to be reminded of the importance of honesty with family and friends. By any reckoning, a successful debut. (Fiction. 8-12)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.