Books in Barron's Painless Series series

Just about everybody knows that fractions are parts of a whole number--but how many of us remember the difference between a numerator and a denominator? Or know quite what to do with them? Painless Fractions was written especially for middle-school students, but can be helpful to just about everybody. (Let's face it: we all make occasional mistakes with fractions.) The author takes a light-hearted approach to teaching fractions. She defines all terms, then demonstrates the correct methods of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of fractions, and shows how to convert them into decimals. Puns, puzzles, and "brain ticklers" add an element of fun to the process of mastering fractions. There are answers to all questions, and plenty of good advice for avoiding pitfalls when calculating with fractions.

Most kids hate to study, and homework is always a chore--but this book teaches kids how to transform drudgery into interesting and productive projects. The author offers suggestions for group learning and study projects, creating a stimulating study environment, and knowing the different ways to read different kinds of books, from math to literature. He also advises on organizing ideas for writing assignments, and seeking extra help for especially difficult subjects.

Taking a light-hearted approach to numbers and their parts, the author, shows how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions, demonstrates how to convert them into decimals and percentages, and presents puzzles and "brain ticklers" that students will enjoy solving. Barron's popular Painless Series of study guides for middle school and high school students offer a lighthearted, often humorous approach to their subjects, transforming details that might once have seemed boring or difficult into a series of interesting and mentally challenging ideas. Most titles in the series feature many fun-to-solve "Brain Tickler" problems with answers at the end of each chapter.

The author points out ways in which recognizing sound and letter patterns makes spelling easier. Also important are recognition of diphthongs, silent letters, compound and abbreviated words, contractions, homophones, homographs, prefixes, suffixes, and base words. "Brain tickler" problems challenge students' imaginations and test their learning progress. Barron's popular Painless Series of study guides for middle school and high school students offer a lighthearted, often humorous approach to their subjects, transforming details that might once have seemed boring or difficult into a series of interesting and mentally challenging ideas. Most titles in the series feature many fun-to-solve "Brain Tickler" problems with answers at the end of each chapter.

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.

The grand drama of American history is covered for middle school and high school students, starting with Columbus's landing, and continuing through European colonization, United States independence, and the nation's development and growth to become the leading world power. This edition has been updated to include important events of the twenty-first century. Titles in Barron's Painless Series are written especially for middle school and high school students who are having a difficult time with a specific subject. In many cases, a student is confused by the subject's complexity and details. Still other students simply finds a subject uninteresting, an attitude that usually results in lower grades. Painless titles offer informal, student-friendly approaches to each subject, emphasizing interesting details, supplementing the text with amusing insights, and outlining potential pitfalls clearly and step by step. Students begin to understand how disparate details all fit together to form a clear picture. Timelines, ideas for interesting projects, and "Brain Tickler" quizzes in many of these titles help to take the pain out of study and improve each student's grades.