I mentioned this book back in my entry about more gifts for girls with geeky inclinations back in December. (Hey, and I’d also like to add that there’s even more cool science-themed jewelry out there!) Do the Math, to be published in July 2007, is a young adult novel about a girl who solves a mystery by applying algebraic reasoning, so I hear. My writing teacher, Janis Cooke Newman, read drafts of Do the Math because it was written by her original writing teacher, Wendy Lichtman. Janis told me last summer that even though she is not particularly into math per se, she got really drawn into the story.

Considering that Janis’s novel Mary is one of the five finalists for the award for first fiction in the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes competition to happen in late April, that means Janis can recognize some good storytelling when she sees it. I’m certainly looking forward to seeing what this young adult novel Do the Math is all about, since it sounds like a character I might have been able to relate to back in junior high. And the cover makes it look like there’s probably gender issues involved, too. Very cool. And there’s math. Need I say more?

Well, I’d like to judge the book for myself once I get a review copy. And it seems like I will! Because today I heard from Wendy Lichtman herself (not as huge a surprise as it might have been, considering the single degree of separation). She wanted to know if I might suggest organizations to market the book to. Starting out with She’s Such a Geek was very smart of her, of course! And she already knew about the Expanding Your Horizons network mentioned in Ellen Spertus’s post just before this one. I told Wendy that I’d be happy to review the book for Inkling (perhaps, if the editors agree), and WEPAN and Techbridge also came to mind immediately. WEPAN seems to have a link to BrainCake, another group that encourages girls in STEM.

But I was wondering whether any of you know of any organizations that might also potentially be interested in hearing about what promises to be a darn good mystery starring a girl who likes math? (The open source model of asking here has worked in the past!) If you know of any such groups, please share here! And of course, we shouldn’t just limit ourselves to budding geeks only—we also need to appeal to the girls who have yet to embrace their own geeky parts.

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