This article is from our 2025 Fall District Discovery, see the full publication
Rosemary Mosco, author of the All Pikes Peak Reads 2025 title Butterflies Are Pretty… Gross!, has been enthralled by nature since she was a little kid growing up in Ottawa, Canada.
“My mom would flip over logs, and we would play with the snakes. She would point out birds,” remembers Mosco. “I was a very shy and anxious kid, so I would just run off and hang out in the woods. It was a refuge.”
Her love of books and libraries formed at a young age, as well.
“There was a branch of the Ottawa Public Library that was walkable from my house, and I spent many of my weekends there, just reading everything. I would pick a subject that I really liked and try to read every book about it.”
Even a massive ice storm in January 1998 couldn’t keep Mosco from her beloved library. “I really wanted to get to the library, so I remember sliding on solid ice, just slipping my way there. I think it took an hour to walk to the library.”
A pivotal moment came when 8-year-old Mosco was at summer camp. Science educator Michael Léveillé visited with “this huge pad of paper and all of us sat around. [He was drawing] cartoons of the history of life, doing little voices, and he was so funny. I was just transfixed. I was learning so much. I was like, ‘How is this a career option? How do I become this guy?’”
After his presentation, Léveillé let the kids know there were opportunities to volunteer at the Canadian Museum of Nature. “And so I did,” remembers Mosco, “It was a hangout spot for dinosaur nerds. It was amazing to talk to adults who continued to be weird and nature-y and doing science communication.”
This set Mosco down a path that included getting a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and starting a successful web comic called Bird & Moon after her third year of college.
In 2010, soon after earning her Master of Science from the Field Naturalist Program at the University of Vermont, Mosco was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. While in treatment, Mosco “had this moment of, if I don't have a lot of time, what do I want to do? I realized I didn’t want to worry about being serious and smart. I just want to have a good time and talk about issues that are important to me. I had this real sense of urgency.” (Mosco says there are “no signs of cancer at the moment.”)
This led to a diversified career in science communication, which for Mosco includes her comics, speaking engagements, and 10 books (and counting) for both adults and children. “I have 50 different things I'm working on at any given time and a zillion spreadsheets.”
At the core of her work is making the complex world of nature and science accessible to readers of all ages, with humor as the special ingredient.
“I try to use clear language,” says Mosco. “And I have to find some sort of hook that will make it interesting for them, because people are busy. I've also found that if you add a joke to the most boring fact, people remember it.”
Several times during the interview for this article, Mosco’s eyes and interest were drawn upward to a horsefly in her home. Even indoors, Mosco can’t help being drawn to nature.
“I can't turn it off. It’s always funny when I'm having a deep conversation with someone and a cool bird flies behind them,” says Mosco. “It will be really distracting.”
Once a child who found joyful distraction and escape in nature and books, Mosco can now create those opportunities for the readers of her books.
“When I see kids reading my book, I want to cry. It makes me really emotional. It doesn't feel entirely real,” explains Mosco. “I want to make kids feel like the world is bigger and better than they thought it was.”
Check out this book and many more in All Pikes Peak Reads 2025
Butterflies Are Pretty...Gross!
by Rosemary Mosco
An illustrated kids book that looks at the fascinating (and sometimes gross) world of butterflies.
