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Explore The River in the Trees · Complete review edition · Orders closed

TINYSHELF DISPATCHES / THE AMAZON

The River
in the Trees

Their name on the invitation.
Their choices in a changing forest.

Explore a floodplain twice, months apart. Choose animals to follow, build a small river landscape, then turn the TREE patches over when the water returns.

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For ages 8–12 · Personal book, regional map, 22 animal cards and seasonal game pieces
Digital review available · Orders are closed

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The actual digital design.
Physical sample still to come.
A PERSONAL INVITATION & GIFT NOTE22 ANIMALS TO LOOK CLOSER ATTWO SEASONAL VISITSA COMPLETE PAPER GAME

The same place, months later

The river comes between the trees.

In the paper game, turn every TREE patch over before turn 4. It stays in the same place and keeps its type. The two pictures below are the actual sides of one included patch.

The board’s season changes which animal patterns can be recorded. The season and shapes are puzzle choices; this is an invented landscape, with researched natural history alongside it.

Try the complete first-play guide →
TREE · LOW 1L-1
LOW: the forest floor is exposed. Same TREE, same viewpoint.

Their expedition, with Lia and Rosa beside them

Choose what catches their attention.

Begin with eight ready animals. Choose one to explore before taking a pair of terrain patches. What they place can complete a pattern, leave room for a later discovery or change the next choice. The optional briefs offer another reason to return.

The book introduces the real Mamirauá floodplain and its wildlife. Lia and Rosa are fictional guides. The small landscape and animal patterns are a game, with their model boundaries stated on the pieces.

Ari, the river is waiting A forest can stand on dry ground on one visit and above swimming fish on another. Choose the river lives that interest you, make a landscape, and keep the discoveries you want to remember. Lia helps with the tools. Rosa shares her river knowledge. The choices are yours. Your ending is on page 15, even with an unfinished goal. 1THE PERSONAL BOOK

An invitation addressed to them.

Their name appears on six book faces. Your optional gift note has its own page. The story, species and rules are the same for every recipient.

The Amazon, closer NORTHERN SOUTH AMERICA BRAZIL PERU COLOMBIA ECUADOR BOLIVIA Atlantic Ocean Pacific Ocean Equator Mamirauá region Tefé Manaus Solimões Amazon N T efé and the Mamirauá region lie in Amazonas, a Brazilian state. Find T efé’s dot, then follow the river east toward the Atlantic. Your small expedition landscape is invented. What the water carries A river can carry things far smaller than a floating leaf. Solimões Pale brown water carries many tiny particles of sediment. Negro Dark water gets its colour from decaying plants and carries much less sediment. Near Manaus, these differently coloured waters meet. They can travel side by side before mixing. Rivers also move sediment: grains settle in new places while other banks wear away. Look for grains in the pale sample and curling bands where the colours meet. These drawn marks make small differences easier to see. Four moments in a river year The Mamirauá floodplain has a yearly rise and fall of water. These views follow one imagined forest edge through that cycle. Rising Water reaches farther into low forest. Flooded Water stands among the trunks. Falling The level drops, exposing more ground. Exposed More forest floor is open to the air. Compare the rising and falling pictures: one height, two directions. A later reading can show whether the level has risen or fallen. Three kinds of forest A forest’s name can tell you about its water. Compare the ground beneath these three canopies. Várzea Seasonal floods bring sediment-rich whitewater into this forest. When the water retreats, its ground can show again; it is still várzea. Igapó This forest floods too, with blackwater or clearwater. The blackwater example here has a dark surface and carries little suspended sediment. Terra firme Ordinary river floods stay below this forest’s ground. A low-water picture of várzea may show dry ground too; its seasonal relationship with the river remains different. Find two wet forest floors, then the higher dry ground. Dots: cities · Ring: region · Selected river course Map: Natural Earth · IBGE · Mamirauá Institute / Zumak et al. Ecology: NASA · Mamirauá Institute · Haugaasen & PeresTHE REGIONAL MAP

Find the real place.

A 20 × 16 inch illustrated map connects river courses, seasonal change and three forest settings. Its reverse is blank.

White bald uakari MAMMAL · UAK Fruit in the canopy PATTERN · EITHER Three TREE patches in one connected path. This path may bend. The season and shape are puzzle choices.THE INCLUDED COLLECTION

A reason to turn each card.

22 animal cards include fish, birds, mammals and other floodplain life. Each has a playable pattern and a different observation on its reverse.

Proposed format: an 8 × 10 inch hardcover with 24 numbered pages and four cover/endpaper faces; 22 cards at 3 × 4.5 inches; 24 two-inch terrain pieces; map, rules and play aids. Materials, binding and pack fit await qualification.

Made personal

See their name in the book.

Your gift note has a page of its own. Explore the cover, invitation and the pages they can make their own.

One edition for ages 8–12.

Preview only. Details stay on this page and disappear when you leave or reload. No photograph is requested.

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Cover · 1 of 6 personalized pages

The lettering, line breaks and artwork follow the selected book. Paper, colour and binding await physical review.

A page they can keep as their own

There is no writing test at the end.

They can leave the landscape as it is, choose a detail to remember, draw, add words or share a question. The ending remains available with an unfinished goal. No phone is needed to play.

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