Books with author Elizabeth MacKinstry

The uncomplicated explanation: Penelope Finnel’s mind isn't to be trusted. It’s betrayed her.Unable to escape the imbalance she was born with, waking up in the morning is a never-ending game of Russian Roulette. After moving to a new town, she’s afraid no one will understand the cloud cover above Castle Rain, Washington isn’t the only reason everything’s gloomy.Until she’s introduced to Dillon Decker, her new neighbor. Dillion offers Penelope stability like she’s never known before. He shines a light on her dark days, and he’s determined to be the cure to her madness. But when friends turn to lovers, and one lover becomes a caretaker, how much can either of them tolerate before they're swallowed whole?A story about epic first loves and the struggle to keep it sane. The true love way.

Titles in Barron's extensive Painless Series cover a wide range of subjects as they are taught on middle school and high school levels. These books are written for students who find the subjects unusually difficult and confusing--or in many cases, just plain boring. Barron's Painless Series authors' main goal is to clear up students' confusion and perk up their interest by emphasizing the intriguing and often exciting ways in which they can put each subject to practical use. Most of these books take a light-hearted approach to their subjects, often employing humor, and always presenting fun-learning exercises that include puzzles, games, and challenging "Brain Tickler" problems to solve. American English sound and letter patterns, homophones, prefixes and suffixes, and more are all presented with fun-to-solve "Brain Ticklers" to self-test students' learning progress. ATTENTION STUDENTS: You get a special FREE bonus when you purchase your copy of Barron’s Painless Spelling Barron’s is taking Painless to the next level: FUN! Sealed inside your copy of Painless Spelling, you’ll find a code that gives you access to a FREE app. Simply key in that code on your iPhone, iTouch, iPad or Android device, and you download a fun-to-play improve-your-spelling arcade game challenge that will reinforce your skill in mastering correct spelling!

Each literature teaching guide for the Hunger Games trilogy is aligned to the Common Core State Standards and includes strategic reading lessons that focus on both the individual volume and the series. There are over 50 separate strategies in the series for deeper understanding and meaning. In addition to lessons that focus on the standard elements of literature (plot, characterization, setting and mood, theme, diction, style, and narration), students are provided with the Choice Analysis Tool to help them gain a deep understanding of motivation in a complex and terrorized society. They are also offered the opportunity to use historical documents (e.g., the Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence) as well as other works of literature and poetry to contextualize the trilogy. Each book also includes Writer’s Forums that guide students in writing while using the books in the series as a backdrop. A vocabulary feature in the final volume provides word study ideas for the entire series.

The Challenging Level of the Discovering Literature Series focuses on a variety of reading strategies to help students construct a meaningful literature experience as well as develop critical thinking and academic skills. An in-depth teaching guide for Neil Gaiman's Newbery Award–winning book This teacher guide helps students understand Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book by grouping by strands: Community Strand and Journey Strand, providing a reference to focus student attention. Each chapter analysis includes Journal and Discussion Topics, Vocabulary, and Chapter Summaries. Other features of the guide include: Strategy Pages, Testing, and the Writer's Forum, along with an answer key.

Grade Level: 6-12The Discovering Literature Series is designed to develop a student’s appreciation for good literature and to improve reading comprehension. At the Challenging Level, we focus on a variety of reading strategies that help students construct meaning from their experience with literature as well as make connections between their reading and the rest of their lives. The strategies reflect the demands of each literature selection.In these study guides, we will focus on beginning a book, setting and mood, irony, plot structure, foreshadowing and flashback, characterization, forming hypotheses, evaluating a book, plot conflict, point of view, inferencing, rereading, theme, narration, and the genre of dystopias.Each chapter analysis is organized into three basic elements: Journal and Discussion Topics, Chapter Vocabulary, and Chapter Summary.Other features include Strategy Pages to increase students’ understanding of strategies to enhance their comprehension of literature; Testing at the end of each chapter grouping, and Writer’s Forum for students’ to write in a variety of genres relating to the text.This 201-page teaching guide includes an answer key.

Designed for use in middle school and high school classrooms, as well as at home, books in this series transform subjects that are normally dreaded by many students. Painless books take light-hearted approaches to their subjects, while addressing topics that classroom texts never get to. Painless Speaking explores the uniquely human act of oral communication, including elements in our culture that shape the way we speak. It explores finding one's voice, understanding the basic unit of speech communication (an utterance), learning the art of conversation, reading aloud from fiction and nonfiction texts, and instruction in public speaking, which entails composing, practicing, and delivering a speech. Students will find guidelines for self-evaluation of a public speech.

120 lightly lined writing pages provide plenty of space in which to write favorite quotations, poems, and personal reflections. Acid-free, archival paper takes pen or pencil beautifully.Keeping a journal is a powerful mental health tool. At the American Psychiatric Association says: "Journaling can provide general wellness and self-improvement benefits, such as making you more self-aware, boosting creativity and helping you build better habits. Journaling can help you better understand your feelings and emotions and help you manage stress. Writing about things that have frustrated or upset you can help you to let go of some of the stress and gain perspective.". Overall, journaling/expressive writing has been found to:Boost your mood/affect;Enhance your sense of well-being;Reduce symptoms of depression before an important event (like an exam);Reduce intrusion and avoidance symptoms post-trauma;Improve your working memory (Baikie & Wilhelm, 2005).In particular, journaling can be especially helpful for those with PTSD or a history of trauma.

Each literature teaching guide for the Hunger Games trilogy is aligned to the Common Core State Standards and includes strategic reading lessons that focus on both the individual volume and the series. There are over 50 separate strategies in the series for deeper understanding and meaning. In addition to lessons that focus on the standard elements of literature (plot, characterization, setting and mood, theme, diction, style, and narration), students are provided with the Choice Analysis Tool to help them gain a deep understanding of motivation in a complex and terrorized society. They are also offered the opportunity to use historical documents (e.g., the Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence) as well as other works of literature and poetry to contextualize the trilogy. Each book also includes Writer’s Forums that guide students in writing while using the books in the series as a backdrop. A vocabulary feature in the final volume provides word study ideas for the entire series.

Titles in Barron's extensive Painless Series cover a wide range of subjects as they are taught on middle school and high school levels. These books are written for students who find the subjects unusually difficult and confusing--or in many cases, just plain boring. Barron's Painless Series authors' main goal is to clear up students' confusion and perk up their interest by emphasizing the intriguing and often exciting ways in which they can put each subject to practical use. Most of these books take a light-hearted approach to their subjects, often employing humor, and always presenting fun-learning exercises that include puzzles, games, and challenging "Brain Tickler" problems to solve. American English sound and letter patterns, homophones, prefixes and suffixes, and more are all presented with fun-to-solve "Brain Ticklers" to self-test students' learning progress. ATTENTION STUDENTS: You get a special FREE bonus when you purchase your copy of Barron's Painless Spelling Barron's is taking Painless to the next level: FUN! Sealed inside your copy of Painless Spelling, you'll find a code that gives you access to a FREE app. Simply key in that code on your iPhone, iTouch, iPad or Android device, and you download a fun-to-play improve-your-spelling arcade game challenge that will reinforce your skill in mastering correct spelling!