Amazing Grace Book

In many ways, Amazing Grace, written by Mary Hoffman and illustrated by Caroline Binch, is a truly wonderful story for all children, with an inspiring text and evocative, descriptive accompanying illustrations (visuals that while realistic also glow and sparkle with much power of imagination), presenting the important, essential message that anyone can be anything he/she desires to be (any role, any job, any position), regardless of race, gender, social status etc. And I also find it both refreshing and encouraging (life affirming) that when it comes to the actual voting period, everyone in class votes for Grace to play Peter Pan, including Raj and Natalie (who had previously made prejudiced comments about Grace not fitting the role because she is not a boy and is African-American, or rather considering that the author and illustrator are British, Anglo-African). Natalie even whispers to Grace that she did a wonderful job at the audition, which not only demonstrates that Natalie has learned a lesson, but that she voted for Grace because Grace showed the most talent, that the fact that Grace is a girl and not ethnically Caucasian did not much matter to anyone in the end; all that mattered was Grace's ability and talent.

However, I do have a rather major problem with one part of the book. Amazing Grace is supposed to be a picture book about tolerance and fighting prejudice and stereotyping, and by extension, it should therefore also be as universally culturally sensitive as possible (or it should at least not describe or illustrate scenes or scenarios that could be deemed as being potentially culturally insensitive). And with that in mind, I do have a rather huge problem with the fact that Grace is not only described as playing Hiawatha, but that she is also illustrated as an Indian chief in full tribal regalia, as many Native American and First Nations individuals find the mere concept of people (including children) playing "Indian" massively insensitive and insulting to their culture and background, their traditions.

I think that Amazing Grace would have been a much more global, and definitely a much more encouraging and sensitive offering without that little addition. It left and still leaves a rather strange, potentially massively bitter taste in my mouth, and also makes me wonder, why we are still so loath, and so seemingly unable to consider the sensitivities of our Native Americans our First Nations, even at a time when we are becoming more attuned to the sensitivities of other visible and invisible minorities. The description and depiction of Grace playing "Indian" also makes me strongly hesitant to even remotely consider recommending this otherwise excellent picture book to Native American or First Nations children (which is a real pity, because Amazing Grace does have an inspiring, essential and necessary message that should be for everyone).

Maybe I am being somewhat hyper-critical here, but this did and continues to bother me, especially since both author and illustrator could so easily have made use of a less culturally insensitive example, a less potentially problematic character for Grace to imagine herself being and playing.

Edited to Add in December 2016: I have just been informed by my GR friend Sheila that in the 25th Anniversary US Edition of Amazing Grace, the entire Hiawatha sequence has now been removed, and while I do much appreciate and applaud that the potential issues this specific "character playing" episode can/could pose especially to and for Native Americans and Native Canadians have now and finally been seemingly officially recognised and noticed, I am also a wee bit aghast at the removal of the entire scene as I generally tend to chafe at this kind of superimposed sanitising. But then again, leaving the Hiawatha episode out really in no way diminishes Grace's playacting and imagination either and does now make the empowering and strengthening messages and morales of Amazing Grace much more universally suitable and shareable (because no Hiawatha sequence really does neither change the messages presented in any way nor does it diminish Grace's imaginative playacting and abilities thereof). I do find it kind of ironic that the removal of the Hiawatha episode has seemingly only occurred in the US anniversary edition and that the UK anniversary edition has supposedly kept the sequence of Grace playing "Indian" as is (at the very least, there perhaps could and should have been an explanatory footnote added to the UK anniversary edition with regard to the potential issues and bones of contention that the Hiawatha scene has caused and engendered over the years).