Reviewed by Vernita Naylor for Readers' Favorite

Dash and the Fibonacci Fungus, written by Seth Daugherty with illustrations by Adam Maguire, is a wonderful children’s book that centers on math. One day, fifth grader Dash went to live temporarily with his Uncle Tim due to his parents’ top secret jobs in D.C. Dash was sad to be living with Uncle Tim because Dash didn’t know a lot about him. He knew that Uncle Tim, Euclid’s Chief of Police, lived alone after his wife died. Dash believed that this sudden event caused a disruption in his life, but little did he know that this move would be the best decision ever. Next door lived Rudy, who was also a fifth grader from his school. She was not only a known track star in their town but he discovered that she also had a passion for math. This was a friendship made in heaven. Later as Dash and Uncle Tim became closer, he began asking Dash to use his mathematical skills to help solve burglaries in the town.

I learned a lot by reading Dash and the Fibonacci Fungus by Seth Daugherty and enjoyed it. I was fascinated by the Fibonacci Sequence created by Leonardo Bonacci (aka Leonardo Bigollo Pisano) from reading this book. It was intriguing to learn that this technique is normally used for architecture, website, and interface designs but can be used for other interests as well; from counting the spirals of a pine cone and the petals of a flower to solving a string of burglaries. It was clever how Seth integrated the Fibonacci math technique into this plot as a way to stimulate young readers' interest in problem-solving through math and reading. To get children more involved with math, Seth has provided Dash’s Math Notes at the end of the book to help readers solve the mathematical equations outlined in the book while learning different mathematical terminology. This book is a must for any library and is ideal for adults to learn about the wonderful world of math. Children will enjoy this book.