Beach Blanket and Poolside Essentials

You’re comfortably ensconced on the sand or poolside – what do you reach for? Apart from guilty-pleasure magazines and sunscreen (see Screening Smart in this issue), here’s a roundup of superlative items for brilliant beach days.

Noah Bhody’s “Own These Words!” can change your life. Filled with 5000 power words, along with their correct pronunciation, this book will impart the knowledge and ensuing confidence necessary to wax eloquently at work, at parties, or in the parent’s corner of the sandbox. Get your copy at www.amazon.com.

Put your brain to work on both the left and right side with Word Winks. Each puzzle provides word and picture clues that challenge you to decrypt a popular phrase or idiom. Quick, fun and ideal for travel or lounging poolside, they’re a daily brain boost with more than 300 visual verbal puzzles. Find them at www.fatbraintoys.com.

Go Fish on the bottom of the pool with these Magnet Dive Gloves that impart festivity to pool days. A magnet in the palm of these gloves lets kids attract colorful fish at the bottom of the pool, either alone or in a race against a friend to see who can pick up the most fish first. Also available at www.fatbraintoys.com

Enjoy the lazy, hazy days of summer!