The fourth book in the Life of Fred Upper Elementary/Middle School Series Life of Fred is a series of math books that break the old pattern of drill and kill. Instead of nothing but dry exposition and endless drill exercises, they contain fun stories about Fred Gauss, a child prodigy math genius. During his hilarious adventures, he encounters situations that call for solving math problems. Dr. Stanley Schmidt wrote these to make math come alive with humor, clear explanations, and silly illustrations that will make math a fun subject. Your children actually want to read these books. The stories carry on through the exercises, leading the student through them. Many of the books have a series of quizzes called Bridges every few chapters. Passing a quiz means the student is ready for the next chapter. Some books have all the problem solutions in them, while others have separate answer keys or companions. The textbooks are all hardbound, the answer keys are comb-bound.