Pulling Books from the Tar Pits

Yep, LA's La Brea Tar Pits. I pull book ideas from everywhere. Y'all have probably noticed that. I thought that the gift shop at the Page Museum, which is right there at the pits, offered an enticing array of woolly-mammoth-era reading for kids. Did I buy the books? No, I did not. I took pictures of them. (That was only one of many "stop-it-you're-embarrassing-me-Mom" moments for our 10 year old; I may also have called him "Honey" instead of his name that very same day. In public.)

We highly recommend a trip to the Page and the pits. Until then, read up:

Wild Cats, by John E. Becker (Darby Creek, 2008)

Prehistoric Mammals, by Alan Turner (National Geographic, 2004)

Big Cats, by Donna H. Bowman (Intervisual Books, 2008)

Sunset of the Sabertooth, by Mary Pope Osborne (Random House, 1996)

Sabertooths and the Ice Age: A Nonfiction Companion to Sunset of the Sabertooth, by Mary Pope Osborne (Random House, 2005)

Prehistoric Animals Stickers (Dover Publications, 1998)

Revenge of the Itty-Bitty Brothers, by Oliver Lin (Simon & Schuster, 2009)

Ice Age, by Stewart Ross (Barron's, 2009)

Sabertooth, by Patrick O'Brien (Henry Holt, 2008)

Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age, by Cheryl Bardoe (Abrams, 2010)

Woolly Mammoth, by Mick Manning and Brita Granström (Natural History Museum [London, England], 2009)

You Wouldn't Want To Be a Mammoth Hunter!: Dangerous Beasts You'd Rather Not Encounter, by John Malam (Franklin Watts, 2004)

Rocks & Minerals (Eyewitness Workbooks), by Helen Whittaker (DK Publishing, 2008)

Dinosaurs came way before the time of the La Brea Tar Pits, but the store sells plenty of dino titles, too. More books from the Page's store here.

Comments

[Tom Angleberger]

Don't they sell The Neddiad? It mentions the La Brea Tar Pits in the opening line!

[tanita]

"Mo-om! Stop calling me that!"

Well, the day I went, they were closed for some reason, so I'm just as happy you took pictures!

[Susan T.]

Tom, it's possible I missed it, but we should tell the Page! I really loved that place. The kiddo could have stayed all day. We did have some words over bringing a tar-covered stick back to the hotel.

Tanita, it's so cool because it's so weird--all that tar oozing up not just in the main pit but in little places all around the grounds. We loved the Page; you can see scientists working on cleaning the fossils that come from the tar pits.

[Caroline@LearningParade]

Thanks for all these wonderful book titles, I wish that when we did our cave art a couple of months ago, I'd had this list! Plus I'm always embarrassing my daughter too, it's allowed! :)

[Susan T.]

Caroline, you're welcome for the list.

This spring Junior entered a high embarrassment stage. I imagine it's going to last a while...

[Mary Ann Dames - Reading, Writing, and Recipes]

Ohhh, I like the idea of taking pictures - embarassing or not.

[Kate]

We just visited the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium (Tacoma, WA) and I did buy 1 book at the book store but used my cell phone to take photos of other titles to get from the library. I use it all the time for things like that, quick and easy and seeing the actual cover helps my memory more than just a title scribbled on a piece of paper.