First Book, First Blog! by Danica McKellar

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Hello everyone!

After years of acting on television, I admit, somehow being an author now has given me a new kind of thrill that I'd never previously imagined. I knew it as soon as my box of books arrived. The big brown box arrived on my doorstep, weathered from shipping and stamped with an unceremonious white label:

Butterflies! Was that like, "McKellar," as in, "me"??

Well, this is very exciting for me, being my first book. And how wonderful to be able to write about something that has been a passion for so long: encouraging girls in math!

Let's face it; math can be very scary, especially to a middle-school kid. When I was in middle school, I would often come home and cry because I was too afraid to approach my math homework. I was terrified of even trying, because I hated feeling like a failure. Through the help of a few wonderful and patient teachers (and one in particular, Mrs. Jacobson, whom I mention in the book), I was able to overcome my fears and even discover a true love of math.

Indeed, after The Wonder Years ended, I went to UCLA and graduated with a degree in Mathematics, and while there co-authored a new math theorem as well...

...but I still remembered how doing math used to feel, and so I started answering math questions on my website. Then, after my role on The West Wing, a New York Times Science columnist Kenneth Chang wrote a wonderful article titled, "Between Series, Actress Becomes a Superstar in Math (subscription required to view article)." Reading this, Laura Nolan, a literary agent at the Creative Culture, called my manager and asked if I'd be interested in writing a math book. Laura and I immediately hit it off, and as we joined up with Penguin, I remember feeling as if I'd been preparing to write this book for years, but had never realized it until now. It was as if though I'd been waving my arms in the air, and someone picked me up and put me in the water, and I was already swimming.

The actual writing/rewriting was more time consuming than I ever would have imagined (and this coming from a math major!), but so gratifying - especially now. Since shortly after the book came out (Aug. 2nd) , I've received emails from girls all over the country who are proclaiming that for the first time, math is "fun" and they finally "get math." What a wonderful feeling!

To be honest, we weren't sure how a math book would do in sales (as most people tend to avoid math altogether), but the need to supplement the math education this country seems to be well understood among consumers, and that makes me happy, and not just because book sales are always a happy thing, but mostly because of how important it is to me to convey to girls what's inside the book. Alongside the math teaching, I've embedded positive messages throughout the book that I hope will sink in and help today's generation of tween girls - girls with self-image issues arising from the news media's continuing obsessions with negative role models and "pop tarts."

It's become a mission of mine to help young girls avoid falling prey to the media's not-so-subtle equation: dumb + reckless = glamorous. Many girls today believe they need to dumb themselves down to appear attractive. I'd like to show them otherwise.

And so... the cover of my book looks like Cosmogirl, and it's filled with things like Personality Quizzes ("Are you a mathophobe? Take this quiz and find out!") This seems like a contradiction, perhaps? I'd say not. I want girls to make the association between being smart and all the fun and girly things they're already attracted to. There's nothing inherently "dumb" about being girly or glamorous, and being good at math doesn't mean you're not girly. It's that very stereotype that we must obliterate before most girls will feel comfortable identifying themselves as people who could be good at math.

How to sum up my message to girls? Simple: Fabulous and glamorous is fine and great - so long as you make SMARTS part of the equation.

It's totally cool to want to dress fashionably and experiment with makeup and all sorts of girly activities... why not? Most gals - of all ages - do. But being smart and exercising their brain with something like math will make them better prepared to deal with all sorts of life situations, no matter what career they choose, or how glamorous they choose oro don't choose to be. And succeeding in math is their ticket to greater self-confidence, which results in making smarter decisions throughout their lives.

What else would I say to fashion-obsessed girls who would rather be reading a teen magazine than doing their math homework? You better study now and get good grades, especially in math and science, because someday you're going to need a fabulous job with a big salary... to support that shopping habit.

www.mathdoesntsuck.com

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Math Doesn't Suck

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