Creator Corner: Author Nancy Hundal and Illustrator Angela Poon
Welcome to Creator Corner, a blog series where we interview the creators of our recent and upcoming books. For this post, we interviewed Truckin’ author Nancy Hundal and illustrator Angela Poon, whose book published September 16, 2025!
Owlkids Books: Nancy, how and why did you begin writing children’s books?
Nancy Hundal: I began writing children’s books about 35 years ago! I had young children myself and worked as a teacher-librarian, so I was immersed in kid’s books at home and at school. I took a correspondence course on writing for children; in those days, that meant mailing assignments back and forth to an instructor, not quickly pushing “send” on a laptop. I sold a couple of my assignments for the course to magazines, and I was on my way!
The reason why I write for children? I love being with kids and seeing the world through their eyes. Children’s literature is such a rich field and I’m so happy to be part of it.
Owlkids Books: Angela, why did you begin illustrating children’s books?
Angela Poon: My work overall tends to be fairly soft and light-hearted, so I thought it would be suitable for children’s book illustration and gravitated towards it in art school and onwards. But also I think illustrating children’s books satisfies the child in me that couldn’t get enough of picture books no matter how old I got!
OKB: Nancy, what inspired you to write this book?
NH: This story was inspired by my sister-in-law Cheryl. Years ago, she was a long haul trucker who took her young children with her as she travelled all over Canada and the US in her eighteen wheeler. Even today there aren’t many female long haul truckers, and when she did it, it was even less common. I was inspired by her ingenuity in finding a career that would allow her to provide for her kids and be with them, at the same time. And I loved the possibility of all the fun that would be for kids.
OKB: Angela, what was the most enjoyable part of illustrating this book? What was the most challenging part?
AP: I enjoy drawing small miscellaneous things and had a lot of fun adding the background details like food on the table and some little cars driving on the road. On the flip side I struggled with anything big—like drawing the truck when it’s up close (it’s hard getting the right angle) and the endless forests of trees (how do I make it look like there’s 50,000 trees without having to draw 50,000 trees?).
OKB: Nancy, what was the most enjoyable part of bringing this story to life? What was the most challenging part of the process?
NH: The most enjoyable part was taking Cheryl’s memories and creating a fictionalized version of her experience. Strangley, that was also the most challenging part, because we had to make a couple of changes to her real-life experience for the sake of the story that weren’t easy to make. But it’s always about making the best story when you’e writing fiction, not necessarily about following the facts exactly.
OKB: Angela, what was the inspiration for your illustrations in this book?
AP: Aside from lots and lots of references of trucks and sleeper cabs I found online, I drew from some of my own life experiences: the one family road trip I went on as a kid, the truck stop I worked at my first ever job, and my dog Winston that I loosely based Jesse off of.
OKB: Nancy and Angela, what do you hope readers will take away from this book?
NH: That many jobs, specifically trucking in this case, used to be thought of as jobs for men, but that women can do all of them. To me, this also means the opposite: that many jobs previously thought of as for women, are also good choices for men.
AP: I hope readers will be pleasantly surprised how different life looks when your temporary homebase is only a few feet long and wide and can travel across provinces! And for any homebodies like me this book is a great reminder that there is a big world out there waiting for us to experience and explore (on or off the road).
OKB: Nancy and Angela, what’s an interesting fact people may not know about you
NH: I grew up in a family of truckers. My dad had a trucking company which my brother now runs, and his son works there also. When I was a kid, my dad would sometimes bring his dump truck home at night and then use the garden hose to fill it with water so we could swim in it. It was a freezing cold delight!
AP: My current go to sweet treat is some dark chocolate, but it has to be cold! I always store it in the fridge to get that perfect snap and crunch!
Thank you so much Nancy and Angela for taking the time to do this interview and creating a wonderful book! We hope readers enjoy Truckin’ as much as we did!
Grab your copy today!
