July 2009 Notable Toys — Science & Nature

This quality Dobsonian style telescope features a 76 mm aperture reflector optical tube. FirstScope is an ideal entry level astronomical telescope, as it is designed for easy observation. The user simply navigates the night sky by moving the tube in the direction of their desired object. The compact design makes it easily portable, and the FirstScope is also stylish enough to be a decorative fixture on a bookshelf or desk. The FirstScope is the Official Product Of the 2009 International Year of Astronomy. The FirstScope pays tribute to Galileo Galilei and many of history’s most notable astronomers and scientists by displaying their names around the optical tube. Launch date: April 2009.

The DVD's images of peaceful, flowering gardens and multidimensional stones transitioning in an artistic display of creation, accompanied by tranquil nature sounds, are designed to shift the mind to right-brain thinking and free viewers from anxiety and stress. It comes with colorful 5” x 7” postcards to mail or frame. "'Healing Stones and Gardens' suspends time for an extraordinary moment and facilitates a journey to a sacred place where we can reconnect with inner divinity," Sue Defabis, project manager at Five Star Publications, told TDmonthly. Launch date: 2009.

A tribute to family, friendship and forty-five years at summer camp, "Campingly Yours" paints a poignant picture of character, charisma and courage, lovingly nestled in America’s heartland. Punctuated with vivid imagery and laugh-out-loud humor, Thomas C. Adler’s memoir is "a heartwarming journey of a lifetime at summer camp," Sue Defabis, project manager at Five Star Publications, told TDmonthly. Launch date: January 15, 2009.

The Seahorse is one of nature's most startling creations. The Ancients thought these creatures pulled the chariots of Neptune. We have reduced it to an endangered species. This book explores the science and the mythology, the biology and behavior, the beauty and mystery of this unique dazzling fish.

Based on the new Spitzer Hall of Human Origins in the American Museum of Natural History which opens in February 2007, The Book of The Genome takes the young reader to the cutting edge of science, exploring and examining the tools by which we study our origins, some of the milestones in human origins, human movement across the Planet and the beginnings of being human through language, music, art and tools.

Amazing Jellies presents an entertaining and authoritative look into the little-known world of what we commonly, but incorrectly, have known as jellyfish. Jellies are among the most beautiful and unusual animals on earth. They are found in all the oceans of the world and even in some freshwater lakes and rivers.

They come in all sizes, from 3mm to 12 feet across and 100 feet long. They are 95 percent water, with a little bit of prote in, oil, and salt. Jellies have lived on the earth for millions of years, and their fossils have been found in rocks 650 million years old. They have no brain, no liver, no kidneys, no heart, no lungs, or gills. They do not need blood, have no eyes, nose or tongue. They can be lethal and are nearly always beautiful.

Disappearing Giants: The North Atlantic Right Whale was our first collaboration with The New England Aquarium, and with the same depth and clarity, Amazing Jellies provides the reader with a thorough understanding of jellies andtheir role in the ocean. The book takes advantage of the most recent research into jellies, with a chapter based on a special exhibit at the New England Aquarium also titled "Amazing Jellies." Beautiful color photographs accompany a clearly written and wide-ranging text.