Brainspace is a traditional magazine and a digital magazine combined into one publication. On the traditional side, each issue is packed with stories and lots of short items, contests, fun facts and compelling visuals. Subjects range a diversity of subjects offering a broad range of informative and inquisitive stories that go well beyond textbook thinking. On the digital side, Brainspace makes a big deal of its digital-image recognition technology. Using the free LAYAR app, scan any image in the magazine showing the AR icon and watch as that image scans and becomes a video and/or audio augmentation.
Brainspace
Full of learning and fun for today’s preschoolers and their parents! Bursting with lively photographs, engaging stories, and interactive picture games, each issue supplies you with fresh and imaginative teaching tools created by noted educators at National Geographic.
National Geographic Little Kids
Each issue is packed with amazing facts, stunning photos and outdoor adventures that help kids sharpen reading skills and develop a deeper appreciation for nature.
Ranger Rick
Filled with fun activities, simple stories and wild animals that the little ones love. Ranger Rick Jr. draws preschoolers closer to nature and gets them ready to read. Youngsters will enjoy the seasonal crafts, simple cooking recipes, fun games, and more. Published monthly.
Ranger Rick Jr.
Tombs, mummies, dinosaurs — budding archaeologists and history buffs ages 9 to 14 are off to new adventures at dig sites around the world. DIG explores the history of the ancient world and its modern branches. Readers look over the shoulders of professional archaeologists working in the field to unearth important finds, and into working laboratories and museums to learn about cutting-edge conservation techniques. Interviews, profiles, articles, and biographies, along with detailed maps and charts, convey the exciting intersection of history and archaeology.
Dig Into History
A mother bear teaches her cubs what they’ll need to know as they grow. Lyrical language and gentle illustrations follow the bears over a year.
A Bear’s Year
Many animals, like people, live in groups. Many of these groups have special words to describe them — from a colony of koalas, to a scurry of squirrels, and even a flamboyance of flamingos. Stunning collage and line illustration of each group march across each double page spread. A bit of information about the animals’ behavior is included in this memorable book.
Tower of Giraffes: Animals in Groups
As a hurricane approaches, animals and their behavior before a storm are described using the cadence of the familiar rhyme, “Over in the Meadow,” Handsome, realistic illustration evoke the mood of the weather and its impact.
Over in the Wetlands: A Hurricane-on-the-Bayou Story
Highly realistic portraits for familiar animals from one to 10 are presented with a tidbit of information about where and how they live. But this is more than a simple (and gorgeous) counting book. Each animal is either endangered or threatened; additional information at the end brings readers up to date with each animal’s status.
Counting Lions: Portraits from the Wild
What and how many creatures make their home in one almendro tree? Count the animals and insects that reside in one single Latin American rainforest tree in lush illustrations and straightforward text.
Tree of Wonder: The Many Marvelous Lives of a Rainforest Tree
Sharks have not five but six senses —; all used to help them survive and even thrive. “Electroreception” is the sixth sense that allows sharks to detect electric fields emitted by other animals. This introduction to sharks is effectively illustrated with collage and will likely inform as well as dispel shark myths.
Sharks Have Six Senses
A young frog has trouble sleeping as there are strange noises all around. His father hears them, too, and so they seek out the source of the noises before finally sleeping. The recognizable story is gently told accompanied by illustrations that evoke the nighttime pond.
Scritch Scratch Scraww Plop
Stunning photographs accompanied by lyrical text describe rain and its effects in a rainforest and on people. This handsome book can be read as poetry, examined for its photography, and/or used as an introduction to the water cycle and weather.
Raindrops Roll
In order “To know a spider you must first look into its eyes” – literally! Readers can do so in this fascinating look at a variety of spiders through a series of close up, full color photographs and lucid text to describe the characteristics of spiders. Even those with arachnophobia will appreciate the unusual but thorough approach to these creatures.
Spidermania: Friends on the Web
Join National Geographic Explorer, Daniel Raven-Ellison, as he takes a comprehensive look at wolves and what individuals can do to help their survival in the wild. Handsome full color photographs are interspersed with text for an appealing format in this informative and empowering presentation.
Mission: Wolf Rescue
Different woodpeckers swoop, slam, tap, click, and grow throughout the seasons. They are introduced in handsome collage illustrations and a rhythmic text which uses alliteration and onomatopoeia to bring the birds alive. Additional details and identification is included at the conclusion.
Woodpecker Wham!
Fourteen critters are presented here through well-placed photographs and fascinating factoids. From small (“the female tarantula lays 500 to 1000 eggs in a silken sac…”) to tall (“a giraffe’s tongue is black”), to up in the air (the hummingbird) or down in the water (a seahorse), this book is fun and informative.
Weird and Wild Animal Facts
A poetic, playful look at an orangutan family in the wild takes as they dance their way through the trees of the rainforest. A poetic form called the “tanka” combines with animated illustrations for a jaunty glimpse of these appealing primates.
Orangutanka
The octopus is not only intelligent, it can be remarkably adaptable able to change color, shape and even skin texture. This fascinating overview is illustrated with attractive watercolors and includes additional detail in back matter. For older readers (ages 9 to 12), The Octopus Scientists (opens in a new window) by Sy Montgomery with photographs by Keith Ellenbogen follows octopus scientist, Jennifer Mathers, and her international team as they learn about and try to better understand this clever creature.
Octopuses! Strange and Wonderful
From whales to wasps, glimpses into animal behavior makes for intriguing reading. A pig eating python concludes the brief, engaging book illustrated with cut and torn paper collage. Back matter includes a bit more detail about the creatures described.
How to Swallow a Pig: Step-by-Step Advice from the Animal Kingdom
Follow three scientists as they study the osprey, a fascinating raptor, in and around Missoula, Montana. How these large birds are tracked and studied is revealed in a highly accessible well-researched text and color photos. Further information appears in sidebars and back matter.
The Call of the Osprey
In this Magic Tree House story, Jack and Annie’s vacation in the glorious waters off Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula doesn’t turn out quite like they expect. An encounter with sharks and with a Mayan girl plus a bit of magic create another satisfying, fantastical adventure in the series. A companion book, Sharks and other Predators (opens in a new window) helps readers separate fact from fiction.
Shadow of the Shark
As it changes its appearance throughout the seasons, this plant also provides food for different birds and animals. But many people see poison ivy as a nuisance only for the itchy, sometimes dangerous reaction to it when they come in close contact with it. This attractive and informative introduction to poison ivy is handsomely illustrated with a brief but engaging text.
Leaflets Three, Let It Be!
A girl explains how her family once hunted whales but now use their family-owned boat to take tourists out to whale watch. Illustrations in color show the contemporary narrator and boat, while sepia-toned images depict the history. Interesting bits of African American history are embedded in this engaging, educational, and accessible story.