Books in Painless Series series

This very approachable text combines instruction in parts of speech and sentence structure with down-to-earth examples, funny illustrations, and examination of some of the more amusing and peculiar words in the English language. A chapter on clear e-mail communication and etiquette is brand new in this edition, as are many of the author's challenging "Brain Ticklers." Her helpful chapter on how to edit a school paper has also been heavily revised and updated. 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 demonstrates how solving geometric problems amounts to fitting parts together to solve interesting puzzles. Students discover relationships that exist between parallel and perpendicular lines; analyze the characteristics of distinct shapes such as circles, quadrilaterals, and triangles; and learn how geometric principles can solve real-world problems. 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.

This book was written for kids who find science courses--and especially, science projects--daunting. Author Faith Hickman Brynie promises that she will show them "how to carry out a project that's as much fun as a day at the beach." Her opening chapter tells how to ask good science questions and shape them into promising plans for a project. Chapter 2 offers guidance in transforming an idea into a logical design that's safe, practical, and affordable. Succeeding chapters instruct on collecting and organizing data, writing a report or giving an oral presentation, building a display, and improving a project as it evolves. She also provides helpful checklists on topics ranging from safety to seeking expert help. Kids learn to enjoy doing original science projects, rather than merely repeating experiments taken from books. Middle school and high school students who think they hate science will change their minds in a hurry when they use this book.

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. This title combines instruction in sentence structure with examination of amusing expressions, and gives tips on e-mail communication, editing a school paper, and more. ATTENTION STUDENTS: You get a special FREE bonus when you purchase your copy of Barron's

Updated with many new references, this entertaining book advises students on ways to enliven their essay assignments with vivid images, avoid the dull passive voice, and construct smooth, well-crafted sentences that flow together to create unified themes. Short quizzes called "Brain Ticklers" appear throughout the text. 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. Timelin

Titles in Barron's Painless Series are textbook supplements designed especially for classroom use by middle-school and high school students. The approach of each title is an appeal to students who think that the subject is boring, or too difficult, or both. The authors, all experienced educators, take a light approach, showing kids what is most interesting about each subject, and how seemingly difficult problems can be transformed into fun quizzes, brain-ticklers, and challenging puzzles with rational solutions. Here is practical advice that transforms essay writing into a satisfying experience for middle school and senior high school students. The author offers tips on enlivening writing with vivid images, smoothing out sentences, silencing the dull passive voice, and adding rhythm to writing. He also shows how to create a template that students can use when writing research papers for all subjects. In addition, students will find web site reference s cited throughout the text, which they can access. Brain ticklers (short quizzes) appear throughout the book with an answer key at the back.

Speaking correctly in English is tougher than it is in most other languages--mainly because so many spelling rules have exceptions. Even so, mastering correct spelling is a fundamental part of education--and here's a book that makes correct spelling painless. Although designed mainly for middle-school students, Painless Spelling can benefit just about anybody who needs to improve spelling skills. Twenty-six easy-to-read chapters begin with a history of English, then go on to analyze sound patterns, diphthongs, homophones, plural endings, compound words, prefixes and suffixes added to base words, and much more. Grasp these ideas about words, and chances are that you'll understand how to spell the words as well. Students are shown how to recognize differences among word endings, for instance, between ion/ian , able/ible or ance/ence. When they reach the final chapter, their spelling skills will be improved many times over--and they'll discover that they had fun getting there!

Reading comprehension assignments that first seem confusing become easy when students answer the author's key questions about their own reading habits. For example: "What can kids do to warm up their brains before starting to read?" and "How can they keep the facts they read in their head?" The author offers interesting answers to these and many more questions. Titles in Barron's extensive Painless Series cover most subjects taught on middle school and high school levels, and are written for students who find the subjects unusually difficult and confusing--or in some cases, just plain boring. Painless Series authors, all of them experienced educators, are experts at clearing up aspects of their subjects that students are likely to find confusing. These books also perk up students' interest by emphasizing the attention-catching ways in which the subjects can be put to practical use. Most Painless Series titles take a light-hearted approach to their subjects, and all of them present fun-to-solve challenges with puzzles, games, and "Brain Tickler" problems. Although Painless Series titles are written primarily for middle school and high school students, older students and adults who need to refresh their skills will also find these books extremely helpful. NEW BONUS FEATUREPrinted inside every copy of Painless Reading Comprehension is a code that gives kids FREE access to a subject-related app. This book's app is an arcade game themed to help students improve their reading comprehension. It can be downloaded on any iPhone, iTouch, iPad, or Android device.

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. This title teaches basic algebra, exponents and roots, equations and inequalities, and polynomials. ATTENTION STUDENTS: You get a special FREE bonus when you purchase your copy of Barron's Painless Pre-Algebra Barron's is taking Painless

Most students and many teachers think of grammar books as being, at best, necessary evils--but here's a book that breaks free from the pattern and takes the boredom out of grammar. Written primarily for children on the middle-school level, this book mixes parts of speech and proper punctuation with healthy portions of humor, down-to-earth examples, and fun illustrations that will appeal to adolescents. While kids are learning painlessly about how to make verbs agree with their subjects and pronouns with their antecedents, they look at some of the wackier words in the English language and see how they are often misused. A final chapter gives basic instructions for editing, which the author calls a fancy word for cleaning up messy writing.

Even very good students think that doing a research project is an excruciating task. They might know their subject well, but they find it easier to go out and dig ditches than to gather facts and organize them into a research paper or project. Rebecca Elliott, the author of Barron's just published Painless Grammar, and her husband James have written a new book to help middle school students turn research into a painless--even enjoyable--process. Their formula is pure common sense. They begin with advice on choosing a topic, then guide students through the thickets of library research, interviewing experts for information, using the Internet, making notes, writing a rough draft, and producing a finished research report. They take students step-by-step through a sample research paper and end with tips on compiling a bibliography. Also featured is an Internet address book with 56 informative websites. Their delightful, user-friendly approach demonstrates that doing a research project really isn't such a burdensome task after all!

This book will be of special value to middle school students and high school students growing up in families where English is not the first language. Like other titles in Barron's Painless series, the approach to learning is informal and user-friendly. The authors take students step by step through all parts of speech--nouns, pronouns, verbs, modifiers, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. Next they offer advice for improving vocabulary, spelling, and American English pronunciation, emphasizing the importance of active listening, and learning vowel sounds and R sounds, and recognizing silent letters and homophones. The book's final three chapters concentrate on written English, advancing from correct punctuation and sentence structure to writing essays and stories. The book's gradual, step-by-step approach makes the mastery of English a truly painless process for students whose first language is other than English.