Grace longs to be chosen to be a princess in the town parade. While gathering ideas for a costume, she realizes that princesses in the familiar stories don’t really do much of anything except look pretty. Her teacher introduces Grace and her classmates to stories of some interesting princesses from all over the world. They hear about Amina of Nigeria, Pin-Yang of China and many others. Everyone wants to participate now. When the parade takes place, Grace is a Gambian princess in Kente cloth, and there are princesses from many varied cultures, including one in the familiar pink, floaty dress. Grace is a charming, engaging character who approaches challenges with enthusiasm. She is able to rethink traditional limits and provoke change. Hoffman provides gentle lessons in a non-threatening, entertaining manner. The illustrations are bright, detailed and dynamic, vividly depicting both of Grace’s worlds, the real and the imaginary. The current illustrators wisely maintain the characters’ facial features and personalities from the original works, without compromising their own, unique style. Just right. (Picture book. 5-10)
