Karen Krossing wrote comics and poetry as a kid and dreamed of becoming a published writer. Today, she’s the author of many books for kids and teens, including picture books and novels. She won the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award for Canada in 2015 and 2023 and has been a finalist for the Ontario Library Association White Pine Award and the Joan F. Kaywell Books Save Lives Award, among other honors. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and she’s on faculty at Whale Rock Workshops and Humber School for Writers. Watch for her upcoming books with Groundwood, Owlkids, Charlesbridge, and Orca in 2025 to 2027.
MY STREET REMEMBERS
Author: Karen Krossing
Illustrator: Cathie Jamieson
Editor: Karen Li
Designer: Michael Solomon
Publisher: Groundwood Books
SYNOPSIS:
How many footsteps have walked your street in the past? My Street Remembers peels back the history of one city street in North America to reveal the greater story of the land on which we live.
The story begins 14,000 years ago, when mammoths roamed the icefields, and the First Peoples followed their trail. Historically accurate illustrations show the lives of their descendants over thousands of years as they hunted and gathered food, built homes and celebrated together, until the 1600s, when Europeans arrived with settlers in their wake.
Q&A with Karen Krossing
Thanks to Karen for answering a few questions for me! Cathie Jamieson wasn’t available for the interview, but you can find out more about Cathie’s work at CathieJamieson.com.
Q. What inspired you to write My Street Remembers?
My inspiration was simply “place.” I wanted to write about one city street over a vast period of time to explore its collective history. The idea sparked because I love to watch the movement of life across my own street—the dog-walkers and cars, soaring hawks and waddling pigeons, storm clouds and sunsets, falling leaves and budding trees. We are all in relationship with one another based on place, including diverse cultures and life-forms from today, yesterday, and tomorrow.
Q. What do you hope young readers will take away from your book?
My Street Remembers tells the universal story of this land now called North America through this specific street, and I hope this book will spark curiosity about each reader’s own street. What do they notice about who walks there now? What do they know about who walked it before? How might their street change so that everyone can feel like they belong? As an author of White settler heritage, writing this book was an act of reconciliation for me, and I was honoured to collaborate with Cathie Jamieson. I hope our book invites young readers to deepen their relationship with place and the truth of our collective past.
Q. What advice do you have for novel writers who are thinking of writing picture books?
I began by writing novels for youth, and my biggest challenge with writing picture book manuscripts was how to fit a whole story into this format-in-miniature. To overcome it, I plotted with more intention—writing my setup in about one spread, my inciting incident on the next spread, and so on. That let me overwrite each section in my early drafts before refining and tightening during later drafts.
Here’s another tip for novelists turned picture book writers: I think of a picture book manuscript as a quarter of the finished book, the illustrations as another quarter, and the reader as the other half since they imagine and perceive meaning based on the text and art. This tip reminds me that I need to leave room for both the illustrator to create and the reader to intuit.
Q. What advice do you have for young writers?
You are the expert on your story, and you know what’s best for it. That’s because it came from your experience and imagination. When others read your story and offer feedback, you can think about whether their opinions fit your vision for what your story is and can become. You can be open to ideas yet also feel free to reject feedback that doesn’t fit your vision. Basically, you can trust your writer’s intuition. You’ve got this!
Also see the following related posts on my blog:
Three Questions With Karen Krossing (Punch Like A Girl)
My Graphic Review of The Yo-Yo Prophet by Karen Krossing (Orca)
Micro Book Review: BOG by Karen Krossing (Fitzhenry & Whiteside)
Also see related resources:
Interviews with Book Creators and others in the Children’s Book Community
Advice For Young Writers and Illustrators from Industry Pros