Danica McKellar Books In Order
Book links take you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books
Math Doesn't Suck | (2007) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Kiss My Math | (2008) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Hot X: Algebra Exposed | (2009) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Girls Get Curves | (2012) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Do Not Open This Math Book | (2018) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
The Times Machine! | (2020) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Publication Order of Picture Books
Goodnight, Numbers | (2017) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Ten Magic Butterflies | (2018) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Bathtime Mathtime | (2018) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Bathtime Mathtime: Shapes | (2019) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Double Puppy Trouble | (2022) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Danica McKellar
Danica McKellar is an American actress and mathematician born January 3rd, 1975. She’s best known for her role as Winnie Cooper in a television show, The Wonder Years. The author also stars in some television movies for Hallmark Channel and lifetime. She’s now a famous author of a bestselling book Math Doesn’t Suck that encourages middle school girls while empowering them with mathematics know-how.
She is a graduate of UCLA and holds a degree in mathematics. After Math doesn’t suck became famous, McKellar started writing more nonfiction books about mathematics, including Algebra Exposed, Hot X, and Kiss My Math. She shows people that just because you are an actor doesn’t mean that you are not bright enough to star in maths.
She’s dubbed as a math superstar by the New York Times for providing girls and parents the tools necessary for mastering math concepts that tend to confuse middle school students. Her books are meant to give girls the confidence to succeed in mathematics. McKellar lives in Los Angeles with her family.
Math Doesn’t Suck
Math Doesn’t Suck is written by a famous actress and math genius as a guide for mathematics for middle school girls, parents, and their teachers. Math subjects have been a crisis in most countries, and as per research, most girls start performing poorly in the subject due to social conditioning that tells them they can’t pass in math.
Nowadays, young girls need to be strong examples as they embrace that they can also do well in math, just like the boys. McKellar’s goal is to be a role model and show that math doesn’t suck at all and that it’s sexy to be smart.
Some of the challenging topics include algebra, fractions, the percentage, among others. The book features real-world examples with step-by-step instructions. McKellar also weaves in some exciting stories of her childhood struggles in mathematics and how to overcome them.
She also teaches in a way that young readers can easily understand, unlike most math books used by teachers in school. Having struggled a lot in high school, I found the book refreshing and essential for young readers. It teaches the techniques one can use to survive middle school math without losing your mind.
The author also talks about how studying mathematics can boost your health and happiness. I’m sure this book will encourage so many girls out there to get interested in math. The book is written for female persuasion as most examples involve buying things like nail polish, which explains percentages and sales. Comparison of boyfriends is used to describe how to find the greatest common divider while making beaded friendships explains the topic of factoring.
Romeo and Juliet are used as an example when solving for X in word problems. Math Doesn’t Suck is an easy read with a good table of contents and index to help the reader get to the right math topic without straining.
The book can make a very fantastic gift for a middle school girl. The math in the book is solid, and the writing will keep the reader engaged to the last page.
The Time Machine
The Time Machine is a book that helps the reader learns division and multiplication facts. Danica McKellar has been of help to over a million kids who can finally have a great time doing math. In the book, you’ll meet Mr. Mouse and Ms. Squirrel, who will give you a new way of recalling multiplication facts.
The author uses silly rhymes and colorful stories to help break down multiplication rules and translate some of the frequently confusing division and multiplication methods taught in class. The lively ‘times’ travel adventure is a relief for most frustrated kids and parents. They now don’t have to worry about tests or homework.
The techniques are a resource to help the parents as they help with math homework. It is best for kids in 3rd to 4th grade as it helps master the basis of multiplication and division before reaching the higher math level in middle school.
I really liked the lots of mathematical vocabulary and terminologies used in the book. The book’s format is amazing, with many tips, tricks, cartoons, and practice problems. The authors have organized the chapters so well to make the book is to use.
In the book, we see the dinosaurs and meet Jane Goodall briefly as we travel in the world through India, China, and everywhere.
As a teacher, you can use this book as a resource for kids struggling in math. The book presents many different tricks and strategies that help students develop problem-solving skills through learning to try other methods for solving.
The authors use window breaking and chocolate bars to teach the area and two-by-two multiplication. What should we do with leftover bananas explains about remainder division while fashion models and Halloween candy demonstrates methods of long division.
Magic marching ants and Ancient Rome are used in teaching introduction to multiplication, while pirates and shiny coins are for skip counting and the multiplication chart. Bananas for monkeys and dinosaur bones are used to introduce division, while Bagels and hammers are for the distributive property.
The Times Machine will take you on a colorful adventure that is full of learning to make math fun. Using methods from the Common Core State Standards, math is described in easy and fast to comprehend examples and pictures. Memorization tricks are provided to help in mastering timetables and tackle complicated concepts.
Charts and visualizations are also presented to help readers solve the fundamental problems by better understanding number relationships. The visuals throughout the book help the material very simple that even adults are able to follow the math pedagogy they never learned in school.
This book has been of so much help to me during homeschooling while the Covid-19 pandemic started. It really assisted my daughter to understand math even better than the way I was taught during my time. The pictures and the storytelling are something for everyone, even adults.