Where Did You Go Today?

by Jenny Duke

A child visits a play area with their father and uses their imagination to transform the mundane into the extraordinary. A profound exploration of the transformative power of imagination.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

Published August 31, 2019

Reviews

[Hilary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little girl goes to the playground with her dad. As she plays she imagines climbing, sliding and swinging through different places on earth and meeting different animals. The illustrations are very nice, beautiful colours and really interesting to look at. The story is nice enough but I feel frustrated that all of the books I have read that feature a child whose parents aren't together anymore the dad is featured as the absent parent, I can think of several families with an absent mum but have yet to come across this in a story. However this is a nice story about a girl having an hour in the playground although only with her father for the journey there and back, not exactly quality time but everyone seemed happy enough in the story.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young girl has an adventure-filled day with a man, presumably her father, as they head to the local playground. There, she participates in the usual activities--swinging, climbing, sliding, circling, even crawling on the playground equipment. But hers isn't the usual experience due to her vivid imagination. She imagines herself on a mountain top, riding a camel across the desert, zooming through a jungle, and then returning home. I appreciated how she turns an everyday experience into a grand adventure, one that will provide her many stories to tell her mother when she returns home. I also liked how it isn't clear what the relationship among these three individuals might be. He could be her father, separated from her mother but still maintaining a cordial relationship and trying to spend time with his daughter. At least that's how I interpreted the last page. But leaving all this open to interpretation allows young readers to bring their own imaginations and experiences to the story. Who knows how someone might answer the title's question? Handsome illustrations accompany the text.

[Bri Feltz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Grade Level: PreK-2nd
This is a really great book to promote creative thinking in the classroom. This book is a great example of how ordinary things like climbing the playground stairs like a mountain or playing in the water like a sailor can seem like an adventure somewhere far away. I think it would be great to use this book to have students create their own imaginative adventures or even have them use their everyday experiences to influence their creative writing.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Breathtaking illustrations. But this is so not a story for kids. It seems to be for adults to show kids that they can be "imaginative." Ay, what a disconnect. We need to "teach" kids about fantastic thinking? (Um. Pretty sure it's the other way round.) I would be so confused if I were a kid being read this.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a quick story about the imagination of a young child.

[Kristen Thorp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun imagination book
286-365

[Sarah Threlkeld · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet story aimed at younger readers about a girl’s active imagination while at the playground.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a great look at a day from a child's perspective.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anything is possible in a child's imagination.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely way to capture imaginative play lovely illustrations

[Jenny Bourke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely love this book! It really encourages the imagination and has such beautiful illustrations. A favourite in our household!

[Samantha Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick simple minded book.

[Sydney Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just okay.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book didn't leave an impression on me.

[The Library Lady · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the bright color palette. The artwork itself is a little scratchy at times, and the body shapes of the humans a little awkward--the animals are better! People will like that this is clearly a bi-racial child--Dad is brown skinned and has wild dark hair, Mom is a redhead. This is reminiscent of John Burningham's Come Away From The Water, Shirley, where another little girl's adventures in her mind grow from what she is doing on the beach, but a lot of people won't know that book, and may enjoy this one.

[Miss Janis the Storytime Lady · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh. just okay.