Being a female geek is in so many ways the same as being a male geek.
But yet in so many other ways, it’s different. There are some unique challenges to combining motherhood and geekdom. We hope we’ve written a book to show not only how to navigate these challenges but, more, how to thrive. And we’re especially proud that Geek Mom: Projects, Tips and Adventures for Moms and Their 21 Century Families is part of an overall trend toward more visibility for female geeks.
Here are a few of those positive signs: The current pre-order numbers for My Little Pony #1, a comic from IDW based on the popular female-created show, exceed 90,000; last year, the Womanthology project was fully funded in one day and eventually raised over $109,000 on Kickstarter; and female attendance at San Diego Comic Con was approximately forty percent of the total audience.
And, of course, there are all the wonderful geekdads on this blog and our publisher, Ken Denmead, who have been such awesome cheerleaders for us. We’ve grown from four contributors on GeekDad to having over 20 writers working with us at GeekMom.com.
We’ve divided our book into six sections: Secret Identities; Elementary, My Dear Watson; Resistance is Futile; Inquiring Minds Want to Know; Kitchen Wizardry; and Make It Sew!
With busy moms in mind, we’ve included activities that don’t require planning, such as how to teach nature while taking a walk, how to develop your child’s sense of smell with loose teas, and the one-line horror story. And we’ve added a number of essays so we can talk about our favorite geeky things, including “Why Superheroes Matter” and “Why I Let My Kindergartner Play World of Warcraft.”
I’m incredibly proud of the whole book, though I’m especially fond of my Teaching History Through Superheroes project. I love Natania Barron‘s advice on creating a steampunk costume by thrift store shopping, and Jenny Williams’ ode to Ada Lovelace and Kathy Ceceri’s cool project on creating sparks in the microwave. Yes, you can try this at home.
I hope you’ll have as much fun with it as we did writing it.
While we wrote it to speak especially to moms, it’s also a parenting book that can be used by fathers, aunts, uncles, brothers and friends to have geeky fun with kids. Priced at $19.99, it’s also available at a lower price at a number of online outlets, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Indie Bound.
