Amazing Grace

Amazing Grade by Mary Hoffman and Caroline Binch

Overview: Grace loves hearing stories her grandma and mom tell her, but more than that, she loves acting out the stories. She always chooses the main character to act out and gets her friends and family to act out the rest. Grace really wants to play Peter Pan in her school play, but her classmates tell her she can't because she is female and black - things Peter Pan isn't.

Target Audience: Students who don't like to conform to gender roles are put down because of their ethnicity.

Reading Level (according to amazon.com):
Age Range 4-8 years
Lexile Measure 680L

Overall Rating 32/32:

-I  rated the book 4/4 in critical thinking because I think this is a great book to start a conversation about issues that are still relevant now. Recently, there has been sequels or remakes of movies with characters of a different race than the original actor and it has caused a lot of commotion. Also, it brings up issues of gender inequality and gender bias.
-I rated the book 4/4 in relatability despite it having a "girl power" message because everyone has felt excluded or discouraged from doing to becoming something they wanted to be for varying reasons and a lot of students could relate to Grace.

-The book received a 4/4 rating in illustrations because they depicted the characters and setting accurately without biases. 

Literary Elements:
-Ellipsis
-Conflict
-Plot

 Hoffman, M., & Binch, C. (1991). Amazing Grace. New York, NY: Dial Books for Young Readers.