Book Description
for The Day Gogo Went to Vote by Elinor Batezat Sisulu and Sharon Wilson
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
A six-year-old black child tells how her 100-year-old gogo (grandmother) is determined to vote in the first general election in South Africa. Gogo has not left home for years, not even to attend church. The family is incredulous. "Do you want me to die not having voted?" Gogo asks her astonished relatives, and so she goes to the polls. The child's-eye view of the historic election is an effective device for including information in context about the voting procedures in the unprecedented 1994 election. Sisulu was born in Zimbabwe and now lives in Capetown, South Africa. Wilson visited South Africa before creating the artwork for this inspiring picture book story with pastels on sanded board. (Ages 7-10)
CCBC Choices 1996. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 1996. Used with permission.