I Know Here

Winner of the 2011 Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award, the 2010 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the 2011 Ezra Jack Keats and New York Public Library New Writer Award, and a finalist for the Governor General's Award for Children's Illustration

The little girl in this story lives with her family in a trailer in northeastern Saskatchewan, where her father is building a dam. She knows everything about the place she lives -- her road, her school, the forest where she plays hide-and-seek and where the wolf howls at night, the hill where she goes tobogganing in winter . . .

But the dam is nearly finished and when summer comes the family is moving to Toronto -- a place marked by a big red star on the map at school. Have people in Toronto seen what I've seen? the little girl asks. And with her teacher's help she finds a way to keep everything she loves about home.

This simple, beautifully written story, complemented by Matt James's vibrant, imaginative illustrations, will resonate deeply with anyone who has had to leave their home for a new place.

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

Author: Laurel Croza
Publisher: Groundwood Books
Published: 10/01/2013
Pages: 40
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.61lbs
Size: 9.30h x 7.10w x 0.40d
ISBN: 9781554983933
Audience: Ages 9-12

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 3.3
Point Value: 0.5
Interest Level: Lower Grade
Quiz #/Name: 137768 / I Know Here

About the Author
Laurel Croza lived near four dam sites when she was a child, moving nine times and attending six schools before she was fourteen. I Know Here, her first book, is based on her memories of leaving Saskatchewan for Toronto. A sequel, From There to Here, also illustrated by Matt James, will be published by Groundwood in spring 2014. Laurel lives with her family in Toronto.

Matt James is a noted painter, illustrator and musician. His first picture book, Yellow Moon, Apple Moon by Pamela Porter, won the New Mexico Book Award and was a finalist for a Governor General's Award. I Know Here by Laurel Croza, won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award, and was a finalist for the Governor General's Award, the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award, the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award and the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award. Matt lives in Toronto.