Celebrate National Fossil Day with Joyce P. Uglow!

Hi, readers, writers, and paleontology fanatics, too! Today is National Fossil Day - a day to promote the scientific and educational value of fossils. What better way to celebrate the occasion than with author Joyce P. Uglow and her new book, STUCK! The Story of La Brea Tar Pits.

For tens of thousands of years, creatures large and small met their fate in the sticky trap we now know as the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, California. From saber-toothed cats to mammoths, millions of fossils representing hundreds of species have been unearthed from this one remarkable site.

With Joyce Uglow’s lyrical storytelling and Valerya Milovanova’s stunning illustrations, STUCK! brings readers deep into this ancient ecosystem — a world of plants and animals stuck!

Want to know more about Joyce and her new book PLUS want a chance to win a copy of your own? Read on...

Q: Hi, Joyce - thanks for joining #SeasonsOfKidLit for National Fossil Day! We’re thrilled to have you and hear all about your book. It’s perfect for year-round celebrations - especially paleontological ones! Please tell us a little bit about how the idea for this book came to you. Which came first, the idea or the title? 

A: This day is dedicated to celebrating the scientific and educational value of paleontology and the importance of preserving fossils for future generations.

Fossils fascinate me and kids love a good fossil treat, too! 

The first time I visited the Tar Pits museum on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, Smilodon fatalis pounced from her exhibit straight into my heart. I thought… this magnificent Ice Age Saber-toothed cat should travel the country telling her story. When researching Rancho La Brea’s fossil finds, I quickly realized I wanted to unearth the story via a nonfiction picture book. STUCK! The Story of La Brea Tar Pits was born. 

There are sticky “travel” records of the thousands of cool cats (Smilodon) and a multitude of Yesterday’s camels. Thousands of dire wolves, dragonflies, and seeds - an entire ecosystem for that matter - got stuck. The millions of fossil records tell intriguing stories!

La Brea Tar Pits is in fact, a destination that schools love too. Teachers choose it for field trips and families choose it for their day trips and road trips. Scientists from around the world travel to La Brea to study the fossils. La Brea Tar Pits is so cool that it was designated one of the first 100 Geological Heritage Sites by the International Union of Geological Sciences. The day I presented at “Girls in STEM Day” at La Brea, 2065 people visited the museum!  

Q: This is a difficult topic to portray as a story in a picture book. Approximately how many revisions did it take to get it just right? What other doors into the story did you try?  

A: STUCK went through what felt like thousands of iterations. I write using Google Docs, but I’ve never gone back to count the versions. I’m here to tell you revising it was on my mind from 2018 to 2023. 

Q: Please tell us a little bit about your process for writing a lyrical nonfiction picture book. How did you organize the facts? Did you research first and write later, or vice versa?

A: During this 5-year time period, I jumped into studying and writing poetry for kids. I experimented with poetry forms, consumed a ton of fossil research, and published several poems in kidlit poetry anthologies. When I arrived at the decision to write STUCK in a lyrical style, I knew I had landed on the best way to tell La Brea’s history. 

STUCK is in a way, a version of the “Found” poetry form. I searched for and used interesting actions and words from my research. Then, I chose species to include in the book, you know… the ones that had been tricked by the mysterious mucky stickiness at La Brea. 

Q: What’s your favorite spread and why?

SPOILER ALERT! The text and artwork on the last spread reveal the story at its heart. Dragonfly is a metaphor for humans who can choose to stay out of sticky situations. It shows us that we must fly on to search for ponds without bubbles. In other words, find ways to protect our planet from human-caused climate changes and our future by taking actions today. 

Readers know from the main text and illustrations that Ice Age species meandered into the mysterious muck, getting tricked by pond water covering the sticky asphalt. Paleobotanists and paleontologists at La Brea have uncovered fossil record stories of the warming and the drying periods. They have discovered Ice Age ecosystem changes, as evidenced by Ice Age plants disappearing and being replaced by new ones. This led to the disappearance of megafauna herbivores from the fossil record. In time, megafauna carnivores also struggled and could not without herbivores to eat. 

But most surprising to me is the 2000-year long story the fossils tell of humans living alongside megafauna. Of those 2000 years, 300 years in the fossil record show evidence of charcoal.  The warming + the drying + human caused fires = the last major extinction period at the La Brea Tar Pits, during the Ice Age, occurred around 13,000 years ago. 

Q: How do you best get in the writing/illustrating spirit? (i.e. music, movies, after a jog etc)?

A: My travels plant idea seeds, however, the quiet of my everyday sit-spot provides time for “things” to soak in and develop into a story. I love to write about special destinations where kids can soak up the nuances surrounding them. 

BONUS: Since it's October and Trick-or-Treating is on our minds....We'll ask you to participate in our favorite candy question: What’s both your favorite and least favorite candy? What would you be thrilled to receive in your candy bag and what would you desperately try to trade?

It’s not hard to pick a least favorite. I never want to be tricked by a Circus Peanut ever again. The banana flavor simply is, well… wrong. Just sayin’... Can they be worse than the illustrious Peeps? Common to both? Marshmallow! 

Now, it is tough to pick a favorite candy. I can say, however, that chocolate is simply the best. As you may know, I live in Burlington, Wisconsin where we smell sweet Nestle chocolate in the air before it rains. BabyRuth and Butterfinger are tied for number one. I can make a good case to trade a Pixy Stix for a KitKat.  

Would you like to leave a Tip or a Treat for the readers?

I'd love to offer a Treat: A personalized copy of STUCK! The Story of La Brea Tar Pits 

Thanks so much for such a cool treat! And thanks again for stopping by - we loved hearing more about you and your new book!

Giveaway Details: Readers, to enter Joyce's giveaway, 1) leave a comment below to thank her for stopping by and 2) share her post on social media. Dino-themed GIFs are also welcomed and encouraged. The winner of this giveaway will be drawn and announced on or about 10/22, along with our Trick-or-Treat winners. 

Please Note: Giveaway's will be shipped in the U.S. only.

About Joyce P. Uglow:

Joyce P. Uglow is a ​children’s book author, poet, speaker, and ​​award-winning educator based in ​Burlington, Wisconsin. She’s the author of STUCK! The Story of La Brea Tar Pits (Bushel & Peck Books) and poetry in several print anthologies​. She has an M​SE in ​Special Education and MSE in Educational Leadership. She creates ​thought-provoking, curiosity-driven children's literature about nature, science, and our planet. Joyce ​explores forests, museums, national parks, mountains, and the ocean ​whenever she can. She is SCBWI Wisconsin’s Co-Regional Advisor, 2024 CYBILS judge for poetry, and past president of Wisconsin State Reading Association. 

For more about Joyce, check out the below links:

Website  https://joyceuglowauthor.com 

Substack at https://jpuglow.substack.com/

SubStack https://ugronews.substack.com/ 

Linktree  https://linktr.ee/jpuglow

Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/jpuglow.bsky.social 

Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/jpuglow/  

To purchase a copy of STUCK!, visit the publisher's site at: STUCK! The Story of La Brea Tar Pits is available at Bushel and Peck Books 

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