Darly’s Adventure to Nowhere

Darly’s Adventure to Nowhere is a touching and whimsical book written by Stephanie Horman and illustrated by Christine Walker. Darly is a young girl who longs for adventure – “‘Mom, where are we going today?’” Darly asks her mom, “wanting to play”. (p. 1) Unfortunately, Darly’s mom tells her that it’s a house-cleaning day, and so Darly “storm[s] to her room”. (p. 5) It is there that Darly’s imagination takes off, and, instead of submitting to a boring day of cleaning, she lets her imagination take off. Darly “looked towards land and saw a big dinosaur” (p. 9), and “her floors turned to ice and she took off on a skate”. (p.13) Darly’s imagination takes off to various places before settling back to home – back from Nowhere.

Walker’s illustrations are somewhat muted and yet full of life. Using just pen and ink and blue and yellow watercolor, she creates active pictures that are full of movement and encapsulate the fluttering imagination of Darly. Young readers will be drawn into Darly’s expressions and the imaginative scenes that occur around her.

Stephanie Horman’s Darly’s Adventure to Nowhere is a story that is sure to get readers imagining the adventures they will go on – even within their own rooms.