Mary Hoffman - Amazing Grace
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The Amazing Grace Story

Introduction   
How it all began
Grace and Family - a trip to the Gambia

News
Reviews
Titles

Introduction
“Grace was a girl who loved stories” and so was I. Still am, in fact, at heart. There are now two picture books, two big books, two chapter-books and a third written (to be published next year), a paper doll, a cloth doll and a stills video. The picture books have been read on TV and radio and I still get more fan mail about Grace than any other of my more than eighty books.

Amazing Grace, the first book about Grace was published in 1991. No one, not even myself, suspected how popular Grace would become. But the central idea of the Grace books - that you can be anything you want - caught the imagination of thousands of readers. This is my own account of the Grace Story.

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How it all began
cover pictureI had already written about forty books by the time Amazing Grace was published in 1991, but it is fair to say that it was Grace who changed my life. I roughed out the story sitting in a health club in London, wearing a towel. I was far away from the doorbell's ring or the phone.

Grace is really me - a little girl who loved stories. When I was a little girl, acting out pantomimes with my sister, I played all the leading parts - it didn't matter to me if they were for boys or girls, though I noticed boys' roles were often more fun. So when Grace wanted to be Peter Pan, I had another character tell her she couldn't because she was a girl. Because things have moved on a bit in equality between the sexes since I was grace's age, I added another level of challenge by making her Black. So another character says,"You can't be Peter Pan - he wasn't Black".

The success of this picture book, with its wonderful watercolours by Caroline Binch, has made me much better known - this is in spite of the fact that neither it nor its sequel won a British award. Caroline's work was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway medal, which is the illustrators equivalent to the Carnegie, but sadly did not win.

Mary Hoffman with Shay Youngblood
Mary Hoffman (right) pictured with Shay Youngblood,
who adapted Amazing Grace for the Children's Theatre Company production,
at the premiere, January 1995.


But Grace was taken to the hearts of the American public - the first book about her has sold around a quarter of a million copies in the United States, and there has been a play based on it in Minneapolis, a doll manufactured in San Francisco, readings on TV and radio, a stills video, and talk of an animation.

All my books about Grace are published in the UK by Frances Lincoln, who do lots of multi-cultural books you might be interested in. You can find out more about them on their website.

the girl who played Grace
Danika Allen, who played Grace in the Children's Theatre Company
production of Amazing Grace in Minneapolis.

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Grace and Family - a trip to the Gambiacover picture
The sequel, called Boundless Grace in the United States and Grace and Family in the United Kingdom, came out in the Spring of 1995. To produce it, Caroline and I travelled to the Gambia, in West Africa, together. The family who had acted as models for Caroline's pictures in the first book had moved from North West London back to their original home country in the Gambia. Caroline's technique relies heavily on photographs, and it would not have been possible to use different models. So it was our British publisher's generosity that took us to Africa, in search of an idea for a new book.


Mary Hoffman with a crocodile
Mary with Charlie the Crocodile in the Gambia, West Africa, December 1992.


Grace's father had been a missing figure from the first book. Since we were setting the new story in Africa, it made sense to put him there and therefore to imagine that the parents had split. I felt a great opportunity here. Grace had become a role model for hundreds of thousands of children around the world, and if she could come to terms with a situation experienced by so many chldren today, it could really be helpful.

Sequels are notoriously difficult, and I think we pulled it off. Caroline's artwork reflects not only the evocative beauty of the Gambia but the relationships between Grace and, what she comes to realise, is a large extended loving family.

Mary Hoffhman with readers
Mary Hoffman with South London school children
dressed up as characters from two of her books:
Amazing Grace and Cyric MC.

In October 2003, America's first lady, Laura Bush, chose Amazing Grace as one of her five favourite children's books.

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Latest News

Amazing Grace was given The Break-a-leg Award for excellence in Children's Literature About Theater, Acting, Singing and/or Dancing by students at Penn State University.

 

Nikki Gamble recently interviewed me about Amazing Grace and my other books about Grace. You can read the interview on the Write Away website.  
   

Mary and cake
Mary Hoffman launching Princess Grace at a dinner for booksellers and media representatives in October.

I am still writing about Grace! Our new picture book, stunningly illustrated by Cornelius van Wright and Ying Hwa-Hu (the artists for An Angel Just Like Me) is Princess Grace. It was published in the UK in October 2007and in the US in January in January 2008.

Read more about the book    
Buy the book from Amazon.co.uk.

 

 

There will be a new Grace doll in African costume from Merrymakers in 2008.

Mary at Brecknock
Mary with a winning princess
at Brecknock School

 

I read Princess Grace to some children at Brecknock School in London in June and gave prizes for the best Prince and Princess costumes.

 

Amazing Grace has been chosen as one of three books for the "Small Island Read" initiative. There will be a mass read-in in four British cities - Glasgow, Bristol, Liverpool and Hull - of Andrea Levy's Small Island. Children will read Amazing Grace and Benjamin Zephaniah's Refugee Boy. The promotion is part of the 200th anniversary of the end of slavery, in 2007. I visited Glasgow on January 11th.

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Reviews
Amazing Grace

Grace's story is a stunningly simple yet subtle exploration of how a child's transcendent imagination sees to the heart of story: Hiawatha or the Tale of Troy are not about race or gender, therefore race and gender are immaterial.  Grace wants to be Peter Pan in the school play but classmates say she can't be because she's a girl and she's black.  Ma is angry but Nana knows that Grace can succeed if she wants to.  Grace shines at the auditions and gets the part.  The play with its colour-blind casting is a triumph.  The vibrant, nuanced illustrations complement the spare text perfectly. 

Gill Vickery, author, teacher, former librarian

Gorgeous water colour illustrations portraying a determined talented child and her warm family enhance an excellent text and positive message of self-affirmation. Grace is an amazing girl and this is an amazing book.”

School Library Journal, 1991

The writing is beautifully paced, straightforward and sensitive without being sentimental.

Books for young children, 1991

Because it deals with sexism and racism with very young children, it offers a valuable starting point for classroom discussion of unacceptable behaviour.

The Bookseller, 1993

A richly illustrated story that tackles stereotypes sensitively and intelligently.

The Good Book Guide, 1997

It’s one of those simple, yet profoundly moving, stories that confronts sexism and racism, accepts they exist, and transcends them through a child’s honesty, humour, imagination and hope.

The Times, 2003

Grace and Family

Mary Hoffman has written a poignant story of a young girl’s attempts to come to terms with a broken family… Hoffman does not makle any attempt to romanticise Grace’s predicament, her journey to Africa or her newfound relationship with her father. She does not try to resolve the irresolvable, but this is a story that makes the complexities of modern family relationships acceptable and meaningful to children.

TES, 1995

... the book brims with authenticity.

Sunday Telegraph, 1995

Hoffman has once again imbued her story with an abundance of familial understanding.

Publisher’s Weekly, 1995

This is a book which will appeal to children right across the primary age range, especially those who are not part of a ‘story book family’. It will help them to see that families are simply ‘what you make them’.

School Librarian, 1995

Grace and Family glows with a magic all its own.

Junior Education, 1995

Starring Grace

This book is a celebration of family and friendship, and of children’s resourcefulness in creating other worlds using imagination and a few simple props… A warm, thoroughly enjoyable book for children of primary age, who will no doubt recognise some of their own fantasies; the stories would also be delightful to read aloud.

School Librarian, 2000

This story is a celebration of childhood at its best and since it reflects multicultural contemporary Britain it will be the ideal book top promote positive images of ethnic groups. Highly recommended.

Book Trust, 2000

Hoffman and Binch have successfully transferred Grace out of picture books, working some of the themes into greaterv depth while maintaining sparkle and pace.

TES Primary, 2000

Encore, Grace

Grace, of Amazing Grace fame, is back in another book about her life at home and school. Her friends, ambitions and preoccupations are brought brilliantly to life by Mary Hoffman, who understands the workings of all the relationships in a child’s universe.

Adele Geras, TES, 2003

Bravo, Grace

As always with the books about this strong young girl, the real drama is in the reworking of the traditional fairytales on stage and in her personal life. The book… demonstrates in both pictures and text, that there are plenty of new, [positive roles and opportunities in today’s diverse families.

Booklist, 2005

Grace is still the adventurous one, the ones who speaks out, who we’ve liked all along.

Chicago Tribune, 2005

Princess Grace

Grace is handled with such deftness and humour that Princess Grace will find its way into every heart.

Amanda Craig in the Times.
Read the whole review here

This new title from the exceptional Mary Hoffman deals with racism and sexism in a positive way.

The Bookseller Back to School Preview 8.6.07

Mary Hoffman's Princess Grace is the perfect antidote to the never-ending stream of pink princesses ... How refreshing

Nikki Gamble The Bookseller 20.7.07

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Titles

Princess Grace
Frances Lincoln Children's Books 2007

Fans of Grace know that she's the girl who loves to act out stories. They've followed her through stage success in the bestselling picture-book "Amazing Grace", seen her discover in Grace & Family  what real family life is all about. And now Grace has the chance to be a princess in a school parade. But what does a princess do, apart from wearing beautiful clothes and looking pretty? Does she have to be pink and floaty, with a crown? Grace and her friends start finding out about princesses in China, Egypt, the Philippines and Zimbabwe - and on the day of the parade, helped by Ma and Nana, Grace's school has the most interesting float of all. 

Buy from Amazon

 

Bravo, Grace
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books 2005
Distributed in the USA by Publishers Group West
Hardback 1-84507-057-7 £8.99/$US14.95

Bravo, Grace! is the third chapter-book outing for Grace, the heroine of the classic picturebooks of the early '90s. Grace grows a little older but she remains essentially the same, a little girl who loves stories and who is given huge confidence by the backing of her family - the wise Nana, supportive Ma and distant but always reliable Papa. Here Grace has more adventures with her gang of friends, copes with loss, bullying, eating disorders and the many other growing pains. As usual she triumphs even when life throws her the biggest surprise of all....

Buy from Amazon

   

Encore, Grace!
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books 2003
Hardback 0-7112-1976-1 £8.99
Paperback publishing in Spring 2006

Published in the US by Dial Books
Hardback 0-8037-2951-0 $14.99

Buy from Amazon

cover of Encore, Grace
   

Starring Grace
Frances Lincoln Children's Books 2000
Hardback 0-7112-1530-8
Paperback 0-7112-2140-5

Published in the US by Dial Books
Hardback 0-8037-2559-0 $14.99
Paperback 0-14-230022-5 $4.99

Buy from Amazon

 
   

Grace and Family
Frances Lincoln Childrens Books 1995
Paperback 0-7112-0869-7 £5.99
Big book 0-7112-2192-8

Published in the US by Dial Books as Boundless Grace
Paperback 0-14-055667-2 $6.99
Hardback 0-8037-1715-6 $16.99

Buy paperback from Amazon
Buy big book from Amazon

   

Amazing Grace
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books 1991
Paperback 0-7112-0699-6 £5.99
Big Book 0-7112-1389-5 £15.99

Published in the US by Dial Books
Hardback 0-8037-1040-2 $16.99

Dual Language Editions:
English and Urdu Paperback
Paperback 1-84507-410-6 £5.99
English and Panjabi Paperback
Paperback 1-84507-383-5 £5.99
English and Gujurati
Paperback 1-84507-413-0 £5.99
English and Bengali
Paperback 1-84507-414-9 £5.99

Buy paperback from Amazon
Buy big book from Amazon

   

 

 

 

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