Picture book extras
Here is a link to a microsite specially created for Grace at Christmas, to celebrate her 20 years in print. Click on the Christmas presents to find out more about the book, the author and the illustrators.
Here is some information about Boundless Grace and the trip I made to the Gambia.
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 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.