Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail

by Danica McKellar

Book Overview

From actress and math genius Danica McKellar comes a groundbreaking middle school math workbook for middle school girls, their parents, and educators.

As the math education crisis in this country continues to make headlines, research continues to prove that it is in middle school when math scores begin to drop--especially for girls--in large part due to the relentless social conditioning that tells girls they "can't do" math, and that...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0452289491
• ISBN13: 9780452289499
• Release Date: July 2008
• Publisher: Plume Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 11 to 14 years
• Grade Range: Grades 6 to 9

Customer Reviews

My homeschool 7th grader really enjoys this book, she works on it in her down time.

She has learned a lot so far and because I use it to supplement our homeschooling, she browses through it and does what pikes her interest. She works then out and actually learns the steps. This book was recommended by my HighSchool math teacher friend.

math for the masses in junior and high school classes

This Danica is as good looking as the racing Danica and a great actress. She's a math whiz too. Well as a trained mathematician I can assure you that she proves in this book that she knows math, is proud of it and want other high school and junior high school girls to appreciate it too. The book is filled with interesting ways of teach junior and senior high school math that makes it fun and exciting. She would be a great teacher too. I think her goal is to be a role model for other girls who have an aptitude for mathematics. Girls have always been discouraged and discriminated against in this field. I remember at my high school I was the best math student but Linda Cirillo was a close second. Yet I was the one who got the encouragement and her talents were ignored. Years later I came back to my home town and found that while I was now a professional mathematician she was a house wife raising children. I hope things have improved over the last forty years. This is a great book to give a child in high school who needs a little help and boost of confidence in math. When an author ahs the art of making things exciting rather than boring the student may develop an interest and capability that he or she never dreamed of!

A Realistic Approach to Middle School Math

Few adults really like what's happening to girls these days - an obsessive focus on makeovers, cosmo, gossip, clothes, popularity, and boys. It has a lot of people wondering what will ever become of kids raised on this type of diet. But rather than fight the unfightable, Danica McKellar decided to leverage "girl culture" and offer a book that speaks to them in their own language. "Math Doesn't Suck" does provide high-quality and carefully prepared material on middle-school math topics. All the stuffyness and "who cares?" writing found in textbooks is replaced with "let's get real" phrasing with a little attitude thrown in. Perfect for that sassy pre-teen in your family. But more importantly, it gets girls to think about why they need to develop their intellect, and how that plays a role in their lives. My daughter likes it and she's using it to polish up her skills before going back to school in September. Even if this book were terrible, McKellar should get a medal for being brave enough (and for caring enough) to attempt it. But it's actually very well written and you can see how much effort went into it. So I hope one day this book wins an award. It deserves it.

A must read for any middle school girl!

I came across this book based on a news article about Danica McKellar. As the proud father of two middle school aged children (one boy and one girl) I am already seeing how differently boys are treated than girls when it comes to Math and Science. The schools seem to teach math from the male point of view. I can easily explain a math concept to my son and he can understand it, but I have not been able to explain the same concept to my daughter. The book arrived last week, and my daughter seems to always have her nose in it. The book isn't designed to be read cover to cover, but to jump around as topics interest you. We had terrible problems last year with fractions, but after reading the section of fractions, my daughter claims that "she gets it". I have never seen my daughter excited about Math like this. If you have a middle school daughter who is struggling with the concepts, this is a must read for her. My only complaint is that Danica hasn't written a survival guide for science yet! I am ordering a second book as a gift for the 6th grade math teacher to help with other girls who are struggling.

Imagine "Teen Cosmo" publishing INTRO TO JUNIOR-HIGH MATH

When I was seven, my mother got a Mathematics degree. At 29, I got my own Mathematics degree -- and of 60 people that day who got Math bachelor degrees then and there with me, only three were women. My mother proved, and those three co-graduating women proved, and Danica proves now, that women can learn math. But that's not what junior-high and high school girls think, is it? Most teen girls think they're math-morons. Danica has written this book for such math-panicked teen girls -- Danica has written this book not only to TEACH them, but to ENCOURAGE them: "You can learn this!" The math covered in Danica's book is junior-high level -- Danica presumes that the reader already knows how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide; then Danica takes the reader up through Algebra I. Danica's math is solid; and Danica's explanations, easy to understand. But this is not your brother's math book. If you flipped through the book quickly, not reading the text, the illustrations and all the girly-handwriting would make you think that it was a book about teen fashion. The book also has chapter headings like no other math book I've seen -- Chapter 7, for instance, is entitled, "Is Your Sister Trying to Cheat You Out of Your Fair Share? (Comparing Fractions)." Chapter 9, on complex fractions, starts out, "Say you're trying on an outfit for a party. You've got the dress, the shoes, and the earrings -- and now you're choosing the right necklace...." Danica also includes three "testimonials" (profiles) of young women who are successful in their careers because they've mastered math. Rather than show three "Ugly Betties" or nerdettes, the three women profiled are BABES. To me, the most amazing thing about her book is that she tells the "blank quiz" story about herself: In a seventh-grade math class, "[w]hen the bell rang and my quiz was still blank, I wanted to disappear into my chair. I just didn't want to EXIST." When I read this book, I learned something. Not about math, but about people. Junior-high girls, in particular. I give this book a 4.99999999999999999...-star rating.

Makeup and math? Hallelujah!

What will this book teach your daughter? That she can work out math problems by herself. That she can learn to love math, and even excel at it. And that she can do these things while still being every bit as girlie as she wants to be. Makeup and math? Yes, this book says, you can love them both. Will girls read it? I think so, because, unlike so many academic texts, "Math Doesn't Suck" is so much more than a study guide. Author McKellar -- yes, Winnie Cooper from "The Wonder Years" but also a summa cum laude math grad from UCLA -- combines a step-by-step approach to middle-school math concepts with lots of personal anecdotes (such as how she once struggled with particular math problems) as well as stories of how other feminine women have excelled in the subject. Also adding some insight is McKellar's 12-year-old goddaughter, Tori. Best of all, McKellar makes her points well. Each chapter is devoted to just one topic (i.e., decimals, or factoring) and uses real-life situations (baby-sitting, shopping) that really make things easy to understand. Overall the book's chapter titles are a little too pink-and-purple for my tastes, but then again I'm not the target audience. I'm not 13, striving to define myself while getting Paris Hilton, the Pussycat Dolls and Hooters commercials driven into my brain. Girls can be smart AND feminine? Math is for them? Say amen, somebody!