INTERVIEW with Author JOYCE UGLOW: STUCK!

 STUCK! The Story of La Brea Tar Pits,  written by Joyce P. Uglow and illustrated by Valerya Milovanova. Bushel and Peck Books, 2025

Full disclosure: Joyce Uglow and I have known each other for many years through our work  in SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) and WSRA (Wisconsin State Reading Association). In the past several years we’ve been picture book critique partners along with several other outstanding writers from Wisconsin. Along the way I’ve seen many versions and revisions of STUCK!. During those years I’ve had an up-close view of Joyce's deep research, intense revisions, and eventual success with this manuscript. This new picture book captures the best of her superb inspiration, writing, and revision.

BONUS NEWS: Anyone who will be in the Los Angeles area on March 22, noon to 4:00 PM,  can hear Joyce in her live presentation at the La Brea GIRLS IN STEM event. Joyce will talk about her book, read it, lead activities, and provide a discussion guide. If this works for you, don't miss it! Now, on to the promised interview...

I’m honored that Joyce Uglow, author of STUCK! The Story of La Brea Tar Pits, agreed to spend time on this interview. If you missed it, my review of the book, on March 4, the official BOOK BIRTHDAY, can be read HERE.

SB:  Welcome, Joyce, and congratulations on this terrific picture book. I know you’ve dreamed of this for many years. Was there anything about the actual debut and celebrations that affected or surprised you most?

JPU: I am grateful for your kind words and for providing me the opportunity to share my thoughts about this special time in my writing career.  Moreover, I am humbled by the love shared by the writing community for STUCK! It’s been fun at every turn during the years from idea to acquisition to publication day. I have a Smilodon fatalis (Saber toothed cat) hat/mask that I wore when signing ARCs at the American Library Association (ALA) conference in San Diego. SURPRISE! Now that was a smile-o-don kind of day. When the box of author copies arrive, it’ll be another cartwheel-across-the-front-yard-celebration, for sure! 

California Saber-Tooth  (Smiledon)

SB:You need a video of that moment! There are loads of unboxing videos, but I've not yet seen an author cartwheeling!

In other recent interviews HERE and HERE you shared information and insights about the origins of this story and your interest in telling it. (Readers will  want to read those and share them with kids!) Since I know a bit about the many hours (and years) you’ve spent researching and revising this story, I also know the stress of deciding what can go in (to make the story stronger) and what needs to hit the cutting room floor. Would you share a few of the “leftover” things that you learned throughout the process that you anticipate sharing in other ways with audiences and readers?

JPU: I’m going to deep here… A large petroleum reservoir called the Salt Lake Oil Field is located below the surface a short distance to the north of Hancock Park in what is now Los Angeles. The oil was formed from marine plankton deposited in an ocean basin during the Miocene Epoch (5-25 million years ago). Over time, pressure converted the organisms into oil. Weak places, faults, and fissures in the Earth's crust allows the crude oil to seep up to the surface. Evaporation leaves the sticky “tar” or asphalt. 

 In January 2023, I attended an incredibly fascinating educator event “People and the Tar” at La Brea led by an anthropologist, Culture Bearer, Educator, American Indian Department, CSU Long Beach. I learned that the Tongva, Tataviam, Serrano, Kizh, and Chumash Peoples used the asphalt to seal their boats, drinking vases, and their roofs.  I’d like to share the land acknowledgement statement presented at the event. 

 “The County of Los Angeles recognizes that we occupy land originally and still inhabited and cared for by the Tongva, Tataviam, Serrano, Kizh, and Chumash Peoples. We honor and pay respect to their elders and descendants ─past, present, and emerging ─ as they continue their stewardship of these lands and waters.”

 

Naturally, a 40-page picture book cannot include everything about the ice age ecosystem of species lost. Here is one such tidbit. The he exhibits you see of an animal were not found all connected. Because of tectonic plate movement underground for thousands of years, the preserved animal bones broke, got scattered, and stuck to other fossils. The skeletal exhibits of the western horse, ancient camel, mastodon, sloth, short nosed bear, American lion, and others were pieced together from the fossils dug up from many different individuals. The fossils have stories to tell. 

                            Fossilized skeletal exhibit of a Dire wolf in the museum at La Brea 

SB: I'm in awe of the science skills involved in recovering each and every bit of that, then having the tools and expertise to reassemble an intact figure that seems to leap out of the display! Science at its best!

Now that this amazing book is available, I hope you are planning school and library visits. If so, what will you hope to share with young audiences, about this book and about bigger ideas: nature, wonder, and writing itself?

JPU: School, library, book festivals, and book shop visits are filling my calendar now. I myself am incredibly interested in the findings in the fossil records. Elementary aged kids are ripe for inquiry learning, too. It’s fun to search for answers, right? So, one of my school visit activities involves research. Using lyrical picture books such as STUCK! The Story of La Brea Tar Pits as mentor texts for poetic techniques in writing is another. I do love a good awe walk in and around trees, so that is in my plans too. I am eager to find out what schools would like to engage in as well. 

 

Asphalt bubble from the site

SB: What lucky kids they will be! How should interested adults go about contacting you to discuss potential visits?

JPU: There are downloadable flyers on my website, which is located at https://joyceuglowauthor.com Folks can contact me via email jpuglow@gmail.com New to me as of January 2025 is my Substack account where I post my thoughts about writing.  You can read this free newsletter at https://jpuglow.substack.com

SB: Which of the many other writing projects you have underway can you tell us about, or are they all still top secret? If so, can you hint at some intriguing research topics you might be exploring? 

JPU: Whenever I travel, I find new ideas to share with kids. So here are some hints: ocean and marine life, forest bathing and the legacy of trees, national parks and geology, artwork… Yup! I have many ideas in folders and some already underway. Of course, I would love to have a companion book for STUCK! 

If you are interested, Cynthia Mackey and I are hosting the STUCK BUMBLEBEE Poetry and Illustration Challenge. You can find all the details HERE.

SB:  As you anticipated these busy exciting days of debut book release, were there any questions you hoped would be asked that have not been? Go for it!

JPU: I’m turning the tables for this one. Here are some questions for your readers, Sandy.  

1.   

1.   My One Little Word for 2025 is ELEVATE. Readers, do you have a goal to read and review fellow creatives’ books? My goal is to read and review a minimum of four picture books per month. Most of the time I review on Goodreads. You can find me at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/9178331-joyce-uglow

    2.    What can we create that will keep kids’ creativity and curiosity alive? 

   3.     How can we learn from our past to ensure we leave the planet a better place that we found it? Fossil records tell us to pay attention to climate change and the impact it is having on our planet. I don’t use plastic bags and plastic water bottles and plastic straws. 

    4.  One last question. Will you be so kind as to request that your library add STUCK! The Story of La Brea Tar Pits to their collection? 

SSB: Joyce, thank you so much for spending time on this, especially during these exciting, hectic days of celebration. I'm looking forward to news you post about appearances and visits as they unfold. Readers, you can follow along, too, with the links Joyce provided below.

 Join Joyce at the Writing Barn on March 8 (11:00 Central Time) It is a free online event.

And HERE on Birth Stories for Books  www.dawnprochovnic.com

And HERE. 

For now, learn more about Joyce Uglow  HERE.

STUCK! The Story of La Brea Tar Pits is officially launched today, and can be purchased at 
BUSHEL & PECK BOOKS, HERE

BOOKSHOP.org

AMAZON Books HERE