Boundless Grace Written By: Mary Hoffman and Illustrated By: Caroline Binch

Hoffman, M. (1995). Boundless Grace. Dial Books for Young Children.

This book is a sequel to Amazing Grace, a picture book about a spunky, self-confident young African-American girl. In Boundless Grace, the story’s protagonist has a curiosity about the father that she has never really had in her life. Her mother and father split up and he moved back to Africa and there he started another family after remarrying. Grace is told by her Nana that lives with her that “A family with you in it is a real family. Families are what you make them.” Later on, her father sends two plane tickets for Grace to visit, and she goes with her Nana to Gambia to do just that. At first, coming to a new culture was a lot for her to take in, as well as to digest her extended family for the first time. She enjoys her step-siblings, and begins to warm up to the adults. Grace is fascinated with the difference at the market and the beautiful things there as well, and the illustration by Caroline Binch is gorgeous with it richness of hues in watercolor.

While talking to her Nana once, Grace makes an interesting simile about herself: “I feel like gum, stretched out all thin in a bubble. As if there isn’t enough of me to go around. I can’t manage two families. What if I burst?” Nana, as her confidant, reminds her she can handle anything because there is no such thing as one kind of family, and that family is what you make of them. Each day, her heart grows for her new extended family as they have a farewell dinner and her father takes her to pet tame crocodiles, where she makes a wish. When Grace asks her Nana as they depart about why hasn’t she heard of a family like hers before, her Nana says that when they get back to the States, they will look up about books on families like hers, so she can see others do exist. (Yea, Nana! Books can teach you anything and show you that you too also belong in the world, no matter who you are!) This book is great as a sequel comparison, to see the progression of time and character development in Grace. Also, it’s a great read aloud for any studies related to Africa. This picture book could be used for comparing difference and similarities in two cultures, and how there is not one right way or type of culture or family. I could also see a guidance counselor using this book for a lesson at guidance time or with an individual student who for some reason feels different or out of place. Diversity makes the world go round!