My Street Remembers

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.

In lyrical text, the street remembers agreements to live in peace, the efforts of the British to take the land with unfair treaties, and the conflict and suffering that followed. The street recalls its naming, paving and the waves of immigrants who called it home. Illustrations of recent times depict Canada's apology to Indigenous Peoples and efforts toward Truth and Reconciliation, including a march with a banner that reads: Every Child Matters.

This rich collaboration between author Karen Krossing, of White settler descent, and Anishinaabe artist Cathie Jamieson ends with a question that readers anywhere can ask--what does your street remember?

Key Text Features

author's note

bibliography

captions

explanation

facts

flags

further information

historical context

historical note

illustrations

illustrator's notes

sources

timeline

vignettes

writing inspiration

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

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3

Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

CATHIE JAMIESON is an Anishinaabe artist from the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation with Haudenosaunee family ties to Six Nations. Her multidisciplinary art is based on storytelling from her Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee identity. Themes in her work include history, the Dream Realm, traditional dancing, Clan Systems, natural elements, landscapes, figures, sounds and abstract forms. She now lives on Manitoulin Island in Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory, where she practices land-based living.

KAREN KROSSING is an author of settler heritage who has written thirteen books for kids and teens, including the picture books One Tiny Bubble and Sour Cakes, and the novels Monster vs. Boy and Punch Like a Girl. She has twice won the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award and has been a finalist for the Ontario Library Association White Pine Award, among other honors. She holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and she's on faculty at Whale Rock Literary Workshops. Karen lives in Toronto, Ontario.