creative gifts

Next in the wildly popular Photo Ark franchise, this book uses Joel Sartore's signature portraits to highlight the amazing features and behaviors of the world’s insects, spiders, and kin.

When the pandemic year forced photographer Joel Sartore to stay home in Nebraska instead of traveling to zoos and wildlife centers around the world, what did he do? He went outside and explored bugs. This book reveals more than 100 species of insects, spiders, and related creatures—some exotic, but many common in fields, forests, and neighborhoods. Amazing portraits in Sartore's signature style—against a black or white background—capture these creatures’ bulbous eyes, probing antennae, and iridescent bodies in living color. Alongside, entertaining text explains the basics of insect bodies, lives, and behavior, rich with unforgettable details. Who knew that a South American butterfly emerges from a chrysalis that glistens like gold? Or that one species of beetle has pincers as long as the rest of its body? Or that wolf spiders can purr?

For budding scientists—and for the kid in all of this—this collection of amazing insect life will intrigue, educate, and amuse all lovers of creepy, crawly creatures everywhere.

In this indispensable guide by the mega-popular Bucket List Family, discover expert tips for traveling with kids and 50 not-to-be-missed destination itineraries.

As a family of five, the Bucket List Family has swum with whales in Tonga, slept in castles in Ireland, lived on a houseboat in Amsterdam, eaten breakfast with giraffes in Kenya, spent Halloween in Disneyland, and visited more than 90 countries around the world. Now, Jessica Gee brings her tips and tricks to you in the ultimate expert’s guide to traveling as a family.

This beautifully illustrated guide provides all the know-how to fulfill your own family’s bucket list—including how-tos for picking a destination, packing, budgeting, and even surviving a 12-hour plane ride. Along with personal family anecdotes, Jess offers 50 itineraries for family-friendly destinations and inspiring top-10 lists with destinations for every age. You’ll learn everything you need to know to take a family vacation to:

• South Africa, where you can walk on a beach with penguins
• Utah, where ice castles bring a world of magic to a vacation full of natural wonders
• Berlin, where holidays come to life at beloved Christmas markets
• The Galapagos, where your kids will squeal with joy as they encounter penguins and larger-than-life tortoises
• Alaska, where you’ll feel you’ve gone truly wild in the last frontier
• And so much more!

This insider’s guide from one of the world’s most traveled families will inspire you to create new and lasting memories with your family for years to come.

Discover the world's ocean--from tides and currents to the creatures living in it to the impact it has on our lives, whether we know it or not--in this richly illustrated overview of the life force that defines and sustains our planet, written by world-renowned oceanographer Sylvia Earle.

Everything you want to know about the ocean can be found inside these beautiful and dynamic pages. National Geographic Ocean unveils the power and significance of our planet's watery essence: the fundamental importance of the ocean in shaping Earth's climate and chemistry as well as its vital role in supporting a multitude of life-forms, including our own human race.

World-renowned oceanographer and National Geographic Explorer in Residence Sylvia Earle--affectionately called "Her Deepness"--guides readers with her lyrical style and inspiring wisdom, describing the evolution, beauty, and impact of the ocean; the challenges it faces, such as climate change, plastic and overfishing; and the myriad ways we can help protect it.

This engaging story of the ocean celebrates dozens of ocean champions and visionaries, explores the ocean's origin and the nature of water, and features a gallery of wondrous creatures that illustrate the spectacular diversity of life in the sea, from sponges, kelp, and zooplankton to whales, sharks, and sea turtles. More than 100 maps and diagrams, including seafloor and political maps of all Earth's seas and oceans, elucidate Dr. Earle's lively narrative.

For seaside dwellers and landlubbers alike, this is a book you will turn to again and again to understand why, as Sylvia Earle says, "Everyone, everywhere is inextricably connected to and utterly dependent upon the existence of the sea."

Inspired by the original Orbis Terrarum, believed to be the first true atlas of the world, Glauco in Brazil creates this beautiful wall map. Crafted from genuine leather and decorated with pyrographic techniques, the map depicts the world as it was perceived in 1527. Ships, animals, architectural examples and more adorn the map. It arrives ready to hang with cedar wood rods at top and bottom.

This definitive, lavishly illustrated book from National Geographic features an astonishing array of vintage and newly created maps, rare photographs, covert documents, and eyewitness accounts that illuminate the world's greatest conflict. This magnificent atlas delves into the cartographic history of WWII: naval, land, and aerial attacks from the invasion of Poland to Pearl Harbor and the Battle of the Bulge. Rare maps include a detailed Germany & Approaches map used by Allied forces in the final stages of the war, full large-scale wartime maps of the world used by President Roosevelt, and crucial Pacific theater maps used by B-17 pilots. Satellite data renders terrain as never before seen, highlighting countries and continents in stunning detail to include the towns, cities, provinces and transportation roads for a pinpoint-accurate depiction of army movements and alliances. Gripping wartime stories from these hallowed fields of battle, along with photographs, sketches, confidential documents, and artifacts color the rest of this timeless and informative book.