The Math of Survival

From the back cover

On his fourth birthday, Lucas's father Frank establishes the Problem Penalty System: every mistake, every second late, every quiet word brings dozens of extra math problems. Raised alone by Frank, Lucas must study harder than the child of the woman who left them, and make the Vance family proud.

By his first school field trip, Lucas kneels bleeding on the ground solving problems while classmates laugh and throw pebbles. When he secretly phones the number hidden behind a scratched-out photo, the woman on the other end asks his father's name, then falls silent. A man in a black suit takes a strand of Lucas's hair and vanishes.

On his sixth birthday, a fancy restaurant meal turns to shame when Lucas cannot blow out all six candles; Frank smashes the cake and assigns 500 problems. Strangers who object are screamed away. Starving, Lucas crawls under the table for cake crumbs, still writing as the restaurant closes.