The Day Gogo Went To Vote

Getting Started With The Day Gogo Went To Vote

I ran into this one a while back when a teacher in my district was looking for read-aloud materials that actually handle elections in a way that doesn't make kids zone out. I'd previously tried a few other titles and they either got the facts wrong or came across as preachy. The Day Gogo Went To Vote, written by Anna Grossnickle Hines with illustrations by Susie Borgella, is the one that stuck around. It follows a family road trip to visit Gogo and Grandpap in California, where the grandfather explains the voting process to his young granddaughter, Lola. The narrative is told in first person from Lola's perspective, which does something most civics books fail to do — it treats the kid like someone who is genuinely curious rather than someone who needs to be lectured. The book covers the basics: why we vote, what a ballot looks like, the idea of choosing between candidates, and the civic duty aspect. It's aimed at the preschool to early elementary range, roughly ages four through seven. The illustrations are watercolor and fairly detailed for the age group, showing a multigenerational household and a warm family dynamic.

What makes it practical for actual classroom or library use is the back matter. Hines includes a glossary, discussion questions, and activity suggestions. That last part is where a lot of children's books about government fall apart. They drop you at the end with nothing to do. Here you get things like drawing your own ballot, role-playing a voting booth, and talking about what questions you'd want to ask a candidate. It's simple stuff, but it's structured. I have used this with groups ranging from second grade through fifth grade. For older kids, it works best if you pair it with something more substantive rather than using it alone. The book itself doesn't go deep into the mechanics of how elections are administered, what electoral colleges are, or the history of voting rights. It's an entry point, not a complete curriculum. If you try to make it carry that weight, the kids will see right through it. One thing I learned the hard way: don't assume the illustrations are accurate for every locale. The book is set in California, and some of the ballot examples and voting infrastructure shown reflect that state's system. If you're in a state with different ballot formats or voting procedures, point that out to the kids. It actually makes for a good discussion starter about how elections vary across jurisdictions.

There's also a slightly awkward moment around page thirty or so where the book touches on campaign promises and political ads. It handles it gently, which is fine for the age group, but I've had third graders ask pointed questions that go well beyond what the text addresses. Have a follow-up activity ready. Something like having them list what they already know about campaigns and what they still want to find out tends to work. It gives you a reading list direction and keeps the session moving.

How to Use This in a Lesson Sequence

The most effective way I've found to run through this is over two sessions, about forty-five minutes each. The first session is the read-through and immediate reaction. The second session is the activity block. Session one setup: Read the book aloud without stopping. Don't pause to explain every term. Let the story flow. Kids that age will pick up context from the illustrations and the narrative. Stop only if someone asks a genuine question that can't wait. After reading, ask them what they noticed that surprised them. The answers are usually telling about what assumptions they bring into the room. Session two setup: Start with the glossary from the back of the book. Go through the terms together. Then move to the ballot-drawing activity. Give each kid a blank paper rectangle and have them create a mock ballot with three to five "candidates" for made-up offices. Things like "best recess snack" or "class pet name." It sounds silly but it gets them handling the physical format of a real ballot, which is something most adults can't describe accurately.

After that, do a secret-ballot simulation. Fold papers, use a shoebox as a ballot box, have kids cast votes one at a time. Count in public. Declare a winner. The whole thing takes about twenty minutes and it turns an abstract concept into something you can hold in your hand. The discussion questions in the back cover the standard ground: what is voting, why do we vote, who gets to vote. I've found that adding one extra question — "What would you ask a candidate if they came to your school?" — unlocks a level of engagement the book's own questions sometimes miss. Kids that age are more interested in influence than procedure, and that question acknowledges it without being inappropriate.

Purchase and Availability

The book is published by Simon & Schuster and carries the ISBN 978-0689820564. It's available through major retailers including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Book Depository. If you're ordering for a classroom, Powell's and Scholastic tend to have better bulk pricing. I usually order six to eight copies for a classroom set because copies in this genre get worn out faster than you'd expect. The binding holds up okay, but the pages take a beating from little hands that don't always know they're supposed to be gentle with board book–adjacent titles. School libraries sometimes have difficulty getting this one because it doesn't fall neatly into the fiction or nonfiction shelving system. It's narrative nonfiction at best, but the illustrations and first-person voice push it toward picture book territory. If you're a librarian shelling it, put it in the juvenile nonfiction section under 324.6 (voting in the US) and flag it for the picture book area as well. Teachers tend to browse both sections when they're looking for election materials around October through November, which is when demand spikes and shelves go bare everywhere.

Limitations and What to Watch For

The book was published in 1998, and while the core content about voting remains accurate, some of the contextual details reflect the political landscape of that era. The examples given for why someone might vote are generalized enough to avoid dating badly, but if you're using this in a year with a major election cycle, the kids will absolutely compare the book's examples to current events. Be prepared for that. Another issue is that the book presents voting as a straightforward personal act without really addressing the structural complexities around it. Things like voter ID laws, registration deadlines, mail-in voting procedures, and the fact that not all citizens can vote in all elections are not covered. None of this is the book's fault — it's aimed at young children — but it means the book should never be the sole source on elections in a curriculum. Pair it with a more detailed resource if you're doing a full unit. For a deeper follow-up, I've had good luck with "What Is the Federal Government?" by James Buckley and the DK series on civics for the upper end of the age range. For kids who finish the ballot activity quickly and want more, having a set of actual blank ballots from your local county election office on hand is surprisingly effective. Real ballots, even expired ones, make the whole thing feel more concrete than any textbook illustration can.

The Day Gogo Went To Vote won the Reading Rainbow Book List selection and has been used in numerous classrooms across the country. It's not groundbreaking in terms of originality, but it does what it sets out to do without patronizing the reader or shoving ideology down anyone's throat. In a genre full of both of those problems, that counts for something. If you're building an election unit from scratch, start with this book for the warm-up, move into the mock ballot exercise, and then layer in whatever depth your grade level can handle. Don't rush it. The kids who seem least interested in voting are usually the ones who need the concrete experience the most.