Greg Pincus recently shared on his blog that his book, The Fourteen Fibs of Gregory K, was included in Bank Street's Best Children's Books of the Year, 2014. I say congratulations and well deserved. Certainly one of my favourite reads.
From Goodreads:
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.
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.
Tells us briefly about your publication journey. I know this was a long one in terms of your book, but so worth the wait. What was the process like, especially being able to work with an editor on the early stages of your book?
The journey began in 2006 so, yes, it was a long-ish one. Still, it began without a manuscript, so from the start Arthur and I were able to discuss what we both wanted the book to be. I had tremendous freedom - so much so that my first draft was actually far from what Arthur had in mind... even though we'd spoken about it in advance! Just goes to show you that there are many different ways to attack the same story. Still, with guidance, I found a stronger way in than my first attempt and that, ultimately, not only made a better book but was a direct outgrowth of working with an editor from the start.
Gregory is a poet, as your are. How did you get into his head space to write the poems from his pov?
To me, getting in his head for the poetry was not really different than getting in his head for the rest of the story. Once I knew how he saw the world, the rest followed. And there, too, I had an advantage as one thing Arthur and I had discussed early on was that Gregory K.'s point of view was going to be the same one that already appeared in a lot of my poetry. So, it was a process of taking what I already knew and applying it to the book's unique situations.
As part of researching a novel authors will literally put themselves in their characters shoes. Did you, perhaps, eat a lot of pie? Research cafe's? Anything else?
I fear that if I ate as much pie and dessert as Gregory did in the book - even if I spread it out over 7 years - I'd be a highly unhealthy blob. Which isn't to say that I didn't spend time with desserts. I mean, truly, the sign of a good coffee house is good coffee, but the sign of a place I can write is a place with good desserts! I savored a few goodies... and actually did celebrate many landmarks, including the arrival of the ARCs and hardcover, with pie.
What is one of your memorable moments from a school visit, book signing or fan email?
I'll share two sorta-related moments. The first was receiving a piece of fan mail written as a series of Fibs. Now, it's a trip to get fan mail to begin with, but to have it come in the form of poetry that's at the heart of the book? Fantastic and gratifying! Then, at a recent event at the Brentwood School here in LA, a bunch of kids grabbed my "How to write a Fib" handout and - totally on their own - sat down in the middle of a busy gym floor with kids and adults swirling all around them and wrote poetry. That's my kind of people! And while it woulda been great to see them writing anything, it was even more fun for me to see them partaking in some Fibbery.
Can we expect to see more from Gregory, or his family, or friends? Along the lines of what we saw with Lisa Yee's books that began with Millicent Min, Girl Genius? Middle grade readers do love to revisit favourite worlds!
The characters in 14 Fibs were a lot of fun to spend time with, so I'd love to revisit their world. It's all about finding a strong enough story for those characters in their situation... and, truth be told, it's something I'm working on even as I answer your questions!
The characters in 14 Fibs were a lot of fun to spend time with, so I'd love to revisit their world. It's all about finding a strong enough story for those characters in their situation... and, truth be told, it's something I'm working on even as I answer your questions!
***
Thanks for this, Greg! You kind find out more about Greg on his blog, Gotta Book. And if you want to treat yourself to some of his poetry--all in one spot (a.k.a a collection)--you can! Just got my copy and am already happily reading.
Packed with fun and funny poetry for children and their adults (and vice versa), The Late Bird has over 50 poems that will make you laugh, think, and cry (if they make you laugh so hard you drop your reader, that is). You'll get to read a Book Report on the Thesaurus, meet interesting friends and family members, and even get the answer to the question "if the early bird gets the worm, what does the late bird get?" (Goodreads)
That's it from me on this Marvelous Middle Grade Monday. Heading back to Shannon Messenger's so I can see what else is being shared!
.jpg)
