My husband and I got a kick out of watching re-runs of the Wonder Years a few years ago.  One of the best things about the show was cute little Winnie Cooper, played by actress Danica McKellar. So John was excited when he heard she wrote a book aimed young girls called Math Doesn’t Suck.  He ran out and got a copy for our daughter, Shea.

The book is aimed at middle school girls and somehow it makes math fun and relevant for this tough audience. Tonight Danica visited Harvey Mudd College to give a talk and John (who teaches at Pomona College, another of the Claremont Colleges) took Shea to hear her and have her booked signed.

Wow!   They both came home so inspired by Danica.

Danica McKellar (Winnie Cooper) and my daughter Shea, 11.

I recommend this book for any girl in fifth grade through high school.  McKellar has another book out as well, aimed more at the high school market. And I think a third book is in the works.

A profile of the late author and Claremont resident David Foster Wallace, who taught at Pomona College, is now up on the New Yorker site. The article describes the struggles he went through that ultimately caused him to commit suicide.

An illustration by Philip Burke accompanies the article.

News is out that Wallace’s publisher, Little, Brown, plans to publish an unfinished novel titled The Pale King in early 2010. The New Yorker is running an excerpt. The book is set in an Internal Revenue Service office in Illinois in the 1980s.

Related post: Philip Burke exhibit in Ananheim