Math doesn’t suck
October 1st, 2008 | by Sol |
When the Penguin Group publishing company contacted me to see if I was interested in reviewing Danica McKellar’s popular books, Math Doesn’t Suck, and Kiss My Math, I jumped at the chance. No, it wasn’t for the free books. The time I spend reading and writing doesn’t justify the cost savings. I review products I believe in. Period. For the sake of full disclosure, I received a free copy of each of the two books. That’s it.
Danica McKellar is a well-known actress, a mathematician, and an advocate for Math education. I’m delighted to see people with a tremendous amount of influence use that influence to make Math more accessible.
“Math Doesn’t Suck” teaches pre-algebra topics. “Kiss My Math” is the sequel, covering more advanced pre-algebra topics. The books are targeted toward middle school girls. I love both books and I’m a bit beyond pre-algebra. The reason I love them is because Danica has a relationship with her readers that I’ve never seen before in any Math book. She sets out, and I believe she succeeds, in making her readers feel comfortable. There’s so much Math phobia in the world and I think Danica does a brilliant job of getting beyond that. Comfort building tools include:
- Cute illustrations
- Hand-written problems and solutions
- Quotes and testimonials from readers
- Stories from Danica’s life
- Applications to real world problems
- Very engaging writing. Danica knows how to relate to teenage girls.
While Danica knows how to speak to her audience she certainly doesn’t dumb down the Math. She definitely covers a fair amount of content in both books.
I absolutely love this quote from “Math Doesn’t Suck.”
I think a lot of girls dumb themselves down for boys. I don’t see the point. I’m smart, and I also have a boyfriend. Besides, the guys you have to dumb yourself down for don’t make good boyfriends. — Elyssa, 17
The Associated Press made a related comment:
Danica McKellar has a message for girls: Cute and smart is better than cute and dumb.
It’s no wonder that McKellar’s books are the two bestselling Math books on Amazon as of this writing.
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7 Responses to “Math doesn’t suck”
By Quan on Oct 1, 2008 | Reply
Agreed, cute and smart is better than cute and dumb. It sounds like an interesting read. Does she do books on euclidean geometry and differential equations too?
By Mgccl on Oct 1, 2008 | Reply
Sound like a manga math textbook except oriented for girls instead of Americans who want to be Japanese.
Quan:
Differential equations geared toward teenagers. Humm… Good idea…
By Mgccl on Oct 1, 2008 | Reply
A interesting side note.
in the quote you have, the girl is age 17.
While the book are for pre-algebra.
Isn’t pre-algebra for middle school? The publisher should chose someone younger for quotes.
By Rich on Oct 1, 2008 | Reply
I think the 17-year-old is exactly who they want to be quoting if aiming at middle school girls. Most middle school girls don’t have boyfriends–they are still in the “dreaming” phase–and that phase is just the right time for them to hear this message from someone a few years older.
By Jane on Oct 21, 2008 | Reply
It’s a great idea to give girls positive role models. Also, there are college students at the pre-algebra level who would benefit from these books.
By paige on Nov 20, 2008 | Reply
hey i love your books
By Aish A. on Nov 24, 2008 | Reply
The book titles are really catchy. I did not believe that these books were real until I read this post. Anything we can do to generate the Generations Y’s interest in math is worth-it. I will make sure to pass this information along to the parents and students that work with us.