I am a secondary principal for a private Christian school in Minnesota. I read this book with the hope of writing a review of it for our monthly parent newsletter. The text of my review follows.
Do you remember that show from the 90s called The Wonder Years? The star of the show was a young teenage boy named Kevin Arnold. One of his best friends and primary love interest was a smart, straight-laced girl named Winnie, played by Danica McKellar. Well, Winnie is all grown up, and besides playing a periodic role in West Wing, she is also a writer, and her newest book has brought a pleasant surprise to the academic world.
McKellar's new book, published in 2007, is intriguingly titled Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail. As you can infer from the title, McKellar's audience is middle school girls who don't like math. Amazingly, she has written a middle school math book and packaged it in such a way that any teenage girl (or high school principal for that matter) can enjoy entertaining examples, uplifting sidebars, and common sense math teaching for the mathematically challenged or disinterested (including high school principals).
So is it okay for a Christian school principal to write a glowing review of a book called Math Doesn't Suck? After all, when I first brought the book home to read it, my nine-year old daughter asked me why I had a book with a swear word on the cover. And honestly, I have labored over this question. However, after reading the book, I believe it's a must-read for our middle school girls. In fact, I have to admit that it was the brash title that interested me enough that I would buy a math book. Had it been titled something proper like Helping Your Teenager Like Math, I would have passed it by without a second thought.
Catchy titles and star appeal are great, but if the book lacks in content, it won't get too far in the reviews. But this book has it all. As Danica McKellar opens each chapter, she begins with relevant and humorous applications of the math concept she is about to explain. For example, she discusses friendship bracelets for prime numbers and factorization, boy crushes for greatest common factor, brand name shoes for multiples, and iced lattes for multiplying and dividing fractions. In her chapter on decimals, she explains "Why calculators would make terrible boyfriends" ("Calculators don't know how to handle the concept of forever. They only see things in the short term (Sort of like some guys we all know.)")
In addition to these unique approaches to sometimes confusing math concepts, McKellar inserts quirky mnemonics that help readers remember math tricks. She uses the "Birthday Cake Method" for finding Greatest Common Factors, "Copycat Fractions" for finding equivalent fractions, and she includes a helpful chart that offers "EZ Divisibility Tricks for Factoring (for example, "If the sum of the digits is divisible by 3, then you know 3 is a factor. Example: 270. Add up the digits: 2+7+0 = 9. Since 9 is divisible by 3, we know that 270 is divisible by 3.").
Math Doesn't Suck is not just about math. McKellar also includes inspiring testimonials from fashionable, glamorous, smart, and successful young women. The constant theme that runs through the book is that girls don't need to "dumb themselves down" for anyone, being smart is cool, math is for girls, and girls can do anything they set their minds to. McKellar offers engaging personal examples, snippets from her personal diary as a young teenager, and testimonials from teenagers and role models to continue on this theme.
If you have an upper elementary or middle school daughter who exhibits any trouble or disinterest in math, I highly recommend that she read this book. You may find that it's the first of many math books that she'll enjoy.
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4 stars and above
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Excellent for someone trying to re-learn mathematics...
I used to be really good at math, especially in middle school, but sadly I chose to turn away from it and pursue more frivolous interests at the time.Now that I am a lot older, I can see the value in mathematics and even though I may not apply a lot of concepts in my day-to-day, I can see it is good knowledge to have.Miss McKeller does a great job at explaining it in a way that MOST school books do not do; making this specific type of math relevant to the person who is just starting to learn it.I really recommend it.The only negative thing I have against the book is that some of the headers and titles are hard to read as well as some of the illustrated examples.
Top reviews from other countries
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- W_e-r_n-e_RReviewed in Germany on January 6, 2025
How entertaining mathematics might be
- G. SmithReviewed in the United Kingdom on December 30, 2016
Great book! Not just for girls
