great lakes & rugged ground: imagining ontario
(2010) Orca Book Publishers
ISBN: 9781554691050
After collaborating on The West is Calling, my co-author, Leslie Buffam, and I discussed what (if anything) we should write about next. Should we work our way slowly East? Should we head North? Should we tackle Newfoundland? Should we stop? Because Leslie does all the research, I let her decide. After all, she was the one who would have to spend hours and hours online or with her nose in a book with tiny print and lots of footnotes. My job, which involved no footnotes at all, was to write haiku based on her research. Her choice? Ontario, Canada's most populous province. Her problem? How to narrow down Ontario's rich history to just fourteen key scenes. As you will see, she did an amazing job of providing me and Kasia Charko, the illustrator, with inspiring material. The book features a detailed “Seek and Find” plus historical notes that provide background for each scene. As well, there is a website with even more information—and yes, Leslie did all the research for that too.
What's next? You'll have to ask her.