Review: Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman, illustrated by Caroline Binch

Grace is a natural-born performer who loves to act out famous roles. From Dick Whittington to Hiawatha, Anansi spider to Mowgli, she’s played hundreds of parts from TV, books or her Nana’s memory, and she especially loves pantomime!

But when Grace wants to be Peter Pan in the school play, her friends try to dissuade her. After all she’s a girl, and Pan is not Black. Undeterred, and with the encouragement of her Nana, Grace is determined to prove her classmates wrong!

This award-winning picture book, originally published in 1991, is the first in a series by Mary Hoffman featuring a leading Black girl. The well-crafted story, with Caroline Binch’s wonderfully naturalistic illustrations, explores themes that could not be more relevant in the current climate.

As a literacy text for Y2 and Y3, it promotes talk around gender and racial equality within familiar contexts that children understand, while also offering natural links to PSHE and drama. What do you notice about the famous characters mentioned in the story? (They are mainly boys/men.) Why did Grace want to be Peter Pan? Do boys have the best parts in stories you’ve read? Should Grace be allowed to be Peter Pan? Do you think Raj and Natalie were fair to Grace? You could watch a film clip of a panto or organise a theatre trip. Explain that years ago when Amazing Grace was written, Peter Pan was often played by women but, today, men and women play him equally. Older children might also enjoy researching some of the literary figures mentioned in Amazing Grace, collecting the texts in which they feature for a class display, and adding books containing leading females to balance things out. (For reference see CBBC's Newsround footage re character diversity in children's books.) 

The book also lends itself to understanding character. For example, children can predict what Grace is like from the book cover (she’s going to be good at dancing/acting…she’s going to do something amazing; she’s a happy Black girl). After reading the story, children can check their initial perceptions (she is good at acting and dancing; she’s talented/imaginative/creative/graceful/proud). Grace kept her hand up even though her classmates said she couldn’t be Peter Pan; what does this tell us about her? (She never gives up/is brave/determined/confident/ambitious/puts on a brave face.) Children can also infer Grace's thoughts and feelings by referring to different events/actions in the text. How did Grace really feel when her classmates said she couldn’t be Peter Pan? How do you know? (She was upset/hurt because, when she went home, she was sad; she complained to her family.)

You could also discuss how to support friends in need: What's your favourite line from the story? How do Ma and Nana make Grace feel better? Encourage children to consider how they might support others. Alternatively, you might focus on celebrating individual talents, e.g. What hobbies are you good at? What challenge would you like to achieve and how?

Grace appears to live with her mum and grandma but not her father, which predictably feeds into the non-existent Black dad trope. But, as Hoffman is careful to avoid explicit references to his absence, instead focusing on the family’s loving relationships, she manages to swerve any negative connotations.

As well as delivering an empowering message of perseverance against adversity, Amazing Grace tackles gender and racial inequality and prejudice in an accessible way that children can comprehend. It’s a timeless classic that deserves a resurgence; a must-have for every home and classroom.

UPDATE (05/10/20): I've recently had a rethink about the various interpretations of this story and how far this text goes in terms of tackling racism and stereotypes. This is largely due to Darren Chetty and Karen Sands-O'connor's thought-provoking article on the children's books e-periodical Books for Keeps. 

Guide for teachers and parents

Genre	Narrative: stories with familiar settings and strong themes
Child-led interests (EYFS)	N/A
Age group (EYFS, KS1, KS2)	KS1/KS2 (Y2 /Y3)
Curriculum links/topics (EYFS/NC)	English: (Y1-6) Spoken language – listen to and respond appropriately to adults and their peers; articulate and justify answers, arguments and opinions; participate in discussions, presentations, performances, role play, improvisations and debates Y2 Reading comprehension – discussing views about a wider range of…stories and non-fiction at a level beyond which they can read independently; discussing the sequence of events in books and how items of information are related; discussing the favourite words and phrases; discussing their favourite words and phrases; drawing on what they already know or on background information and vocabulary provided by the teacher; making inferences on the basis of that is being said and done; predicting what might happen on the basis of what has been read so far; participate in discussion about books, poems and other works that are read to them…taking turns and listening to what others say Y3 Reading comprehension – listening to and discussing a wide range of fiction; drawing inferences such as inferring character’s feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inference with evidence; predicting what might happen from details stated and implied; discussing words and phrases that capture the reader’s interest and imagination PSHE – fairness; celebrating talents; achieving goals; being resilient; being caring; being helpful/supportive member of the school and local community
Suitability	whole-class reading, storytime, class/school library, home reader
General features	third-person narration, dialogue/speech marks, time connectives. proper nouns

All the Black children's books that I review are checked against my Jericho Benchmark.