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.
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 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 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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I
had already written about forty books by the time 
Princess Grace
