Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s book creators! Today’s guest: Karen Krossing. Take it away, Karen!

Please take a moment to place both your feet flat on the floor. Can you feel the floor beneath your feet? The building you’re in? The land that lies beneath us all?

You are here. In this place. On this land. Many feet have walked here before you, and many will walk this place in the future.

My inspiration for writing My Street Remembers was simply “place.” I wanted to explore our collective history of place over a vast period. I wanted to peel back the history of one city street in North America—from 14,000 years ago to the modern day—to reveal the collective story of the land on which we live.

This narrative nonfiction picture book is a collaboration between me—an author of White settler descent—and Anishinaabe artist Cathie Jamieson. It tells the story of one street’s development from the Ice Age to the present day, with a focus on Indigenous Peoples, the effects of colonialism, and a healing path toward a community of the future. It asks young readers: What does your street remember?

Why I Wrote This Book

Writing this book was a journey in understanding where I live.

I began writing with an awareness of my heritage as a White settler of this land. From family stories, I knew my ancestors came from Scotland hundreds of years ago. I also knew they benefitted from treaties and laws that harmed Indigenous Peoples, and I’ve had advantages because of my ancestry. It was an uncomfortable place to write from.

Researching, writing, and collaborating on this book was an act of reconciliation for me. A way to reach out a hand to Indigenous Peoples as traditional inhabitants of this land and community partners of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. It was also a journey of deepening my relationship with place and my collective community.

What Does Your Street Remember?

This book invites readers of all ages to deepen their relationship with the land beneath their feet. Wherever you are, you can ask: What stories does your street hold? Below are some ideas for how you might answer that question.

Notice Your Street: Spend some time noticing the street where you live. What do you see and hear on your street? Who walks there now? What do you know about those who have walked it before?

Notice Your Relationship with Belonging: Consider your connection to your street. What do you love about it? Do you feel like you belong? What would help you feel like you belong?

Notice the Illustrations in My Street Remembers: Cathie Jamieson created rich, detailed illustrations about how one place has changed over 14,000 years. When you’re reading, what do you notice about who has lived on this street over time, the changing tools and technology, the changing plants and animals, and the changing homes and other buildings?

Find Out More About This Street: After you read this book, ask yourself: What have you learned about how this one street has changed over time? Look at the information in the back of the book to learn more about the history of this street.

Explore Your Street: What can you learn about your street? Use resources such as Native-Land.ca and Whose Land to learn more about the land where you live.

Consider Collective Relationships: What does it mean to be a good friend? What does the word promise mean? The word treaty refers to a promise made between two groups of people. Anyone who lives in what is now North America is a treaty partner. Treaties uphold Indigenous rights to land, water, education, health care, and more. Traditional Territory refers to an area where Indigenous Peoples have lived and continue to live, and Treaty Land refers to an area with specific agreements between Indigenous Peoples and settler governments. What do you know about the treaties and territories that affect your street?

Discuss Land Acknowledgements: Listen to your school’s land acknowledgement. What is the purpose of it? What does it mean to you? How do you think your school could improve it?

Explore Reconciliation: What does reconciliation mean to you? What are ways you can connect and reconcile with the place where you live? For example:

• Reach out to honour and connect with those who live on your street now or who have lived there in the past.
• Consider how you will share this land where you live with those who will walk it in the future. How will you care for this land? How can we help everyone to belong?
• The Canadian government committed to 94 calls to action in 2015 to redress the legacy of residential schools and advance reconciliation. Explore Indigenous Watchdog, which reports on the number of calls to action that are in progress, stalled, not started, or completed.

Gratitude Walk: Go for a walk on your street. Notice what you see, hear, feel, and smell. Notice the objects, creatures, plants, and connections between them. Notice your body’s responses to the place you’re walking through. What do you feel connected to? What do you feel grateful for? Write your observations or share them with a friend.

Remembering Walk: Bring a notebook on a walk on your street. What memories arise? Write about your memories—images, sensory details, feelings, and so on.

Poetry Prompt: Use the notes from your gratitude walk or remembering walk to write a poem. First, circle words from your notes that feel meaningful to you. Then play with those words to write your poem. If it feels right, make connections between you, your body, and the place where you live.

The land that became our streets settles on us as we settle on it. When we deepen our relationship with place, we understand ourselves—and others—better.

You can learn more about Karen Krossing and her books by visiting karenkrossing.com.