MMGM: The 14 Fibs of Gregory K.

*The 14 Fibs of Gregory K has gotten a lot of love, and I’m sure I put it on my list because of someone else’s MMGM post. I wasn’t sure, though, if I was going to like it. I  didn’t like Gregory’s parents at first, so I almost gave up on the book.

But I loved Gregory’s voice and could relate to his dilemma: be the person his parents wanted or be true to himself and his dreams. Of course, since he wanted to be a writer, I could totally relate, since I started writing at a young age.

I am so glad I stuck with this book, because I loved the character growth in this book—especially with Gregory and his parents. I also loved the way that Pincus used the Fibonacci series and poetry as a motif throughout.

Here's the synopsis:
Failing math but great at writing, Gregory finds the poetry (and humor) in what's hard.

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.

What I’ve learned as a writer from this book:

1. How to use food in your work: Pincus does an amazing job with using The Slice (the pie shop Gregory and his friend, Kelly frequent) and Gregory’s mom’s Weird Wednesday’s dinners. Both of these foods tie in to the story in marvelous ways—the pie echoing the “pi” of math  and his mom’s dinners illustrating her backstory and an important bit of character growth for her.
2. Character Arc: In the beginning, Gregory’s parents, his sister, and his brothers seemed oblivious to what Gregory was going through, although they seemed to be good parents in other ways (insisting on family dinner night, for example). I’m so glad that I didn't stop reading. The payoff of Gregory learning that his sister didn’t hate him, his mother had her own passion as a child, and what his dad does at the end to show he truly understands Gregory was huge. This definitely got me thinking about my own work—and whether I’ve used actions and/or objects to show change rather than just narration and dialogue.

I loved how Gregory grew as well—how he learned to rely on others and be true to himself. I thought his dilemmas and his way of handling them by fibbing was realistic.

* This cover definitely has MG boy appeal, at least if I go by my sons' reactions.

Have you read any great middle grades lately?


To check out more Marvelous Middle Grade suggestions, check out Shannon Messenger's blog.