I Know Here
Groundwood Books
Age 5-8
32 pages
written by Laurel Croza and illustrated by Matt James
Synopsis from Groundwood Books:
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.
My kids loved I Know Here. We live in the big city and have talked about leaving, relocating to the country. They could relate to the little girls feelings of leaving behind the world she knew and love for something foreign and maybe a little scary. Laurel‘s words spoke the thoughts of a child in a beautiful way; the sense of missing the road or the grocery delivery truck. There’s not a lot of dialog, mainly the thoughts going through the little girl’s head as she observes everything around her familiar surroundings. Accompanied by Matt‘s folky-Canadian illustrations, you are transported to a small trailer town in the prairies. My oldest daughter loved the illustrations and would spend quiet moments in her room just looking at the pages.
You can add a copy of I Know Here to your personal library by visiting your local bookstore or from Groundwood Books. Visit our Kid’s Books section for other great book recommendations. What are you reading with your kids?
I have to thank Trish at Groundwood Books for my review copy.
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