The 14 Fibs of Gregory K.
Greg Pincus
Language: English
Pages: 240
ISBN: 0439912997
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Gregory K is the middle child in a family of mathematical geniuses. But if he claimed to love math? Well, he'd be fibbing. What he really wants most is to go to Author Camp. But to get his parents' permission he's going to have to pass his math class, which has a probability of 0. THAT much he can understand! To make matters worse, he's been playing fast and loose with the truth: "I LOVE math" he tells his parents. "I've entered a citywide math contest!" he tells his teacher. "We're going to author camp!" he tells his best friend, Kelly. And now, somehow, he's going to have to make good on his promises.
Hilariously it's the "Fibonacci Sequence" -- a famous mathematical formula! -- that comes to the rescue, inspiring Gregory to create a whole new form of poem: the Fib! Maybe Fibs will save the day, and help Gregory find his way back to the truth.
For every kid who equates math with torture but wants his own way to shine, here's a novel that is way more than the sum of its parts.
class going?” “Great!” Gregory said, and for once actually meant it. “We haven’t seen you doing any extra work sheets or anything, and you don’t seem to be staying after school….” His mother looked conflicted. “I believe you, but …” “Do you need help on the work, son?” his father asked kindly, though even Gregory could see his dad was gripping his knife and fork with tense hands. “No! I don’t need help. Why does everyone keep asking me that?” O looked like it was painful for him not to
hands through her hair. “I wish I’d been there to kick you and stop this whole thing before it started.” “If it makes you feel better, my calf hurt right after I said I was in.” “A little too late, if you ask me.” Kelly got up and walked to Gregory’s end of the table. “Okay, let’s try another approach. What’s the most complicated-sounding math thing you know about?” “Long division?” Gregory said. Kelly cleared her throat in a way that made him instantly regret his answer. “I mean Fibby … Fibby
it’s good?” “No, I wouldn’t say it’s good,” Kay said without hesitation. “Whatever,” Gregory grumbled. “I’d say it’s great, Gregory K. I know I’m your little sister so I should say it’s lousy and then chastise you for your efforts, but I actually deal in truth, and I love your poetry.” “Thanks, Kay.” There was no mistaking the smile on Gregory’s face, even though he tried to hide it. But he couldn’t. It was too big. He struggled to recapture his gruff big-brotherness. “But you still shouldn’t
though that was only because he wanted the extra credit in class and, yes, at home. He could also say that he entered City Math because his father had mentioned it every five minutes since Gregory was born and that not entering it had never seemed like an option even as it became clearer and clearer to Gregory that math was never going to be his thing. Instead, he turned off the calculator. “It doesn’t matter, Dad. I’m in and thanks to O, I’m on the main stage, just like you and just like him.”
load the last few items into her car. “At least we’ll have three weeks of Author’s Camp together.” He and his parents had reached a compromise that they could all live with … and one that made him very happy. “I know. That’s stupendous and fantastic. And we’ll call and text and send emails and we’ll visit each other on long weekends,” Kelly said as her mom adjusted a final box in their car trunk and closed it up. Gregory really didn’t know what would happen when Kelly moved. He didn’t know if