My little adorable pink princess. Subverting the princess template in the Grace picture book series

White English writer Mary Hoffman came up with the Grace Series in the early 1990s. Here in Germany, only the first book Amazing Grace has been published (Alibaba Ffm, 1999). Grace loves stories and acting and wants the role of Peter Pan in the school play. Only problem is, she is a girl and she is Black. Her nana and mother encourage her to give it a try and her determination leads her to question established roles along gender and race constructs.

I recently checked out some other titles in the series like Princess Grace, a good book to begin reading with the little princess fans who adore wearing pink or purple and cannot tire of their favourite Grimm and Andersson fairytales, popularised and commercialised by Disney.

Take a look at Mary Hoffman's article published in The Guardian which shows her disgust for pink passivity in picture books and the harm it continues to inflict on girls all over the world:

'Down with princesses, I say! And fairies. And unicorns, rainbows, ponies and mermaids. And pink. And possibly purple, too, especially in conjunction with pink and definitely if there is any silver glitter involved. I'm sick of it all. Young girls growing up today are offered an almost exclusive diet of synthetic, comercially exploitative pap'.

This was one reason she decided to create the picture book Princess Grace, featuring the Black protagonist Grace who discovers princesses in different hues that actually do things rather than just look pretty and wait for a prince to come along. Other titles in the series like Encore, Grace, a junior reader chapter book, further open up and question the conventional princess stories by having Grace and her classmates reinterpret the roles of their favourite fairytales, like Sleeping Beauty. Perhaps Hoffman's main reason for publishing the Grace Series was to offer her dark-haired, princess-loving daughter (whose father is half-Indian) another version of what a princess can look like and be.

Self-hate among children of colour; obsession with blue-eyed blondness as the epitome of beauty; rejection of anything brown or black as ugly; lack of self-esteem; being the victim of racist remarks and discrimination...these are real problems that start at preschool and get dragged into adult life in post-colonial societies where white supremacy propaganda is alive and kicking.

In an interview with Booktrust, Hoffman calls for more books on diversity and talks about her own personal interests in representing diversity: 'More than ever, children need books that are exciting, surprising and stimulating. They need 'mirror' books and 'window' books: stories that reflect themselves but also all sorts of lives they have never imagined'.

It should be noted that these books start with the premise that being Black is somehow a barrier to overcome. The series then introduces positive figures in history (a Black star ballerina, Nigerian and Chinese princesses) to look up to or emulate thereby empowering child readers. Blackness is thematised and it could be argued that in the title books Grace and Family and Boundless Grace, Africa is exoticised. The author made her first visit to AFRICA..the Gambia is apparently too small to make the point - to meet the people who inspired the illustrations of Grace and her family. She admits that she couldn't have written the book without this journey: 'It was my first trip to Africa which was mind-blowing in itself. And I met the models for Grace, Ma and Nana for the first time. I swam in the Atlantic Ocean with them, danced with a witch doctor and stroked a huge crocodile. I couldn't have written the book without going there'.

For readers interested in Black protagonists whose colour isn't at the centre of the text, see the picture books by Toni Morrison, bell hooks or Ezra Keats.

'The Sweetest Song' and 'The Blue Coat' from the collection 'The Story Tree. Tales to Read Aloud'

The Sweetest Song is an African-American tale about a little girl who ventures out through the fence that her mama and papa have warned her about. She happily plucks her flowers moving further away with each one until she encounters the wolf, attracted by the sweetest, goodest song he has heard - Tray-bla, tray-bla, cum qua, kimo'. The little girl outsmarts the wolf through her sweet goodness, singing him her happy tune all the way back to her gate, where she is safe and sound once more.
Told with a beautiful cadence, sonorous repetition and a cunning simplicity, the tale invites you to defy the rules, confront challenges and assume responsibility for your actions.
The protagonist, known only as 'Little Daughter' is a happy carefree child who eagerly crosses over to the far side of the fence, attracted by all the bright, colourful flowers. Her mama and papa weren't watching and the flowers looked so tempting. She is undaunted by the appearance of the wolf who asks her to sing her sweetest, goodest song again. When the wolf closes its eyes, she tiptoes, tiptoes slowly back to the gate. This happens a few times till she manages to reach the gate and shut it, safe and sound from all the lurking dangers on the far side of the fence.

Why I Like This Story:

- It's pure music to the ears and lips with its repetition and build-up
- The girl is free in every sense of the word, she is a curious child who is determined to pluck those beautiful flowers that seem to be calling out to her despite her parents' warning not to cross the fence.
- Indeed, there are dangers lurking there and that's why her parents warned her about it
- There is no adult intervention or punishment in the story - the girl is not chastised for disobeying her parents.
- There is magic in music and song which have the power to see you through difficult situations
- You need to assume responsibility for the choices you make - the sooner you learn this, the better
- There is a happy ending - the girl can have her cake and eat it too! As they say, no risk, no fun (originally a German phrase from a candy company)!!!

The Blue Coat - a Jewish Story - also appears in the collection 'The Story Tree'

Turning a Coat into a Story - One day, a mother realises that her son, Tom, needs a coat. So she buys the material and sets to work, making him a beautiful blue coat. But with all the romping and through the seasons, the coat is all worn out and the mother sets to work, making a beautiful waistcoat from the beautiful blue coat. With more romping and frolicking through the seasons, the waistcoast is all worn out and the mother sets about to make a bow-tie from the pieces of the waistcoast. When this piece also becomes 'tattered and torn beyond all redemption', she sets about making him a button..and when this is all torn and broken, she is left with the story about the Blue Coat!

Why I Like This Story -

Its beauty lies in its simple repetitive layers, with a new simple addition (coat-waistcoat-bow-tie-button-story) each time
It's an ode to a mother's creativity and a son's joy at having something made with love and hard work
It's a story about up-cycling and re-using instead of dumping and accumulating.
It's also about the magic and power in story-telling and taking one object and following its transformative journey.
And finally, it's all about childhood and what makes children happy - not money, not having the latest brands, but having an object made and remade with love and being able to play freely in or with it.