HOFFMAN, Mary (Margaret) 1945-(Mary Lassiter)

PERSONAL: Born April 20, 1945, in Eastleigh, Hampshire, England; daughter of Origen Herman (in telecommunications) and Ivegh (a homemaker; maiden name, Lassiter) Hoffman; married Stephen James Barber (a social worker), December 22, 1972; children: Rhiannon, Rebecca, Jessica. Education: Newnham College, Cambridge, B.A. (with honors), 1967; University of London, diploma in linguistics, 1970. Politics: "Green." Religion: Anglo-Catholic.

ADDRESSES: Home—28 Crouch Hall Rd., London N8 8HJ, England. Agent—Deborah Rogers, Rogers, Coleridge and White, 20 Powis Mews, London W11 1JN, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: The Open University, Milton Keynes, England, lecturer in education, 1975-80; writer, 1980—. Member of The Other Award Panel, 1980-87; reading consultant to BBC-TV.

MEMBER: International Board on Books for Young People, National Union of Journalists, Society of Authors.

WRITINGS:

FOR ADULTS

Reading, Writing, and Relevance, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1976.

(Under pseudonym Mary Lassiter) Our Names, Our Selves, Heinemann (London, England), 1983.

Also author of course materials for The Open University. Former columnist for Mother. Contributor to periodicals.

FOR CHILDREN

White Magic, Rex Collings (London, England), 1975.

(With Chris Callery) Buttercup Busker's Rainy Day, Heinemann (London, England), 1982.

(With Willis Hall) The Return of the Antelope, Heinemann (London, England), 1985.

Beware, Princess!, Heinemann (London, England), 1986.

The Second-Hand Ghost, Deutsch (London, England), 1986.

A Fine Picnic, Macdonald (London, England), 1986.

King of the Castle, Hamish Hamilton (London, England), 1986.

Animal Hide and Seek, Macdonald (London, England), 1986.

(With Trevor Weston) Dangerous Animals, Brimax Books (London, England), 1986.

Whales and Sharks, Brimax Books (London, England), 1986.

The Perfect Pet, Macdonald (London, England), 1986.

Clothes for Sale, Silver Burdett (London, England), 1986.

Nancy No-Size, Methuen (London, England), 1987.

Specially Sarah, Methuen (London, England), 1987.

My Grandma Has Black Hair, Dial (New York, NY), 1988.

Dracula's Daughter, Heinemann (London, England), 1988.

All about Lucy, Methuen (London, England), 1989.

Min's First Jump, Hamish Hamilton (London, England), 1989.

Mermaid and Chips, Heinemann (London, England), 1989.

Dog Powder, Heinemann (London, England), 1989.

Catwalk, Methuen (London, England), 1989.

Just Jack, Methuen (London, England), 1990.

(Editor) Ip, Dip, Sky Blue, Collins (London, England), 1990.

Leon's Lucky Lunchbreak, Dent (London, England), 1991.

The Babies' Hotel, Dent (London, England), 1991.

Amazing Grace, illustrated by Caroline Binch, Dial (New York, NY), 1991.

Max in the Jungle, Hamish Hamilton (London, England), 1991.

The Ghost Menagerie, Orchard Books (New York, NY), 1992.

The Four-Legged Ghosts, illustrated by Laura L. Seeley, Orchard Books (New York, NY), 1993.

Amazing Mammals Kit, Dorling Kindersley (London, England), 1993.

Henry's Baby, Dorling Kindersley (London, England), 1993.

Cyril MC, Viking (New York, NY), 1993.

Bump in the Night, Collins (London, England), 1993.

Boundless Grace, illustrated by Caroline Binch, Dial (New York, NY), 1995, published as Grace and Family, Frances Lincoln (London, England), 1995.

Earth, Fire, Water, Air, illustrated by Jane Ray, Dutton (New York, NY), 1995, published as Song of the Earth, Orion (London, England), 1995.

Trace in Space, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1995.

A Vanishing Tail, Orchard Books (New York, NY), 1996.

Quantum Squeak, Orchard Books (New York, NY), 1996.

Special Powers, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1997.

A First Bible Storybook, Dorling Kindersley (London, England), 1997.

An Angel Just Like Me, Frances Lincoln (London, England), 1997, Dial (New York, NY), 1998.

Comet, Orchard Books (New York, NY), 1997.

(Editor) Stacks of Stories, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1997.

Sun, Moon, and Stars, Orion (London, England), 1998.

A Twist in the Tail, Frances Lincoln (London, England), 1998.

Virtual Friend, Barrington Stoke (London, England), 1998.

Clever Katya, Barefoot Books (London, England), 1998.

Sun, Moon, and Stars, Dutton Children's Books (New York, NY), 1998.

A First Book of Myths: Myths and Legends for the Very Young from around the World, Dorling Kindersley (London, England), 1999.

Three Wise Women, Phyllis Fogelman Books (New York, NY), 1999.

Starring Grace, Phyllis Fogelman Books (New York, NY), 2000.

Women of Camelot: Queens and Enchantresses at the Court of King, Abbeville Press (New York, NY), 2000.

Parables: Stories Jesus Told, Phyllis Fogelman Books (New York, NY), 2000.

The Barefoot Book of Brother and Sister Tales, Barefoot Books (London, England), 2000.

A Grace Note, Penguin (New York, NY), 2000.

Miracles: Wonders Jesus Worked, Phyllis Fogelman Books (New York, NY), 2001.

A First Book of Fairy Tales, DK Publishing (New York, NY), 2001.

A First Book of Jewish Bible Stories, DK Publishing (New York, NY), 2002.

Stravaganza: City of Masks, Bloomsbury (New York, NY), 2002.

The Color of Home, Putnam (New York, NY), 2002.

Animals of the Bible, Phyllis Fogelman Books (New York, NY), 2003.

"ANIMALS IN THE WILD" SERIES

Animals in the Wild: Tiger, Belitha/Windward (London, England), 1983.

Animals in the Wild: Monkey, Belitha/Windward (London, England), 1983.

Animals in the Wild: Elephant, Belitha/Windward (London, England), 1983.

Animals in the Wild: Panda, Belitha/Windward (London, England), 1983.

Animals in the Wild: Lion, Belitha/Methuen (London, England), 1985.

Animals in the Wild: Zebra, Belitha/Methuen (London, England), 1985.

Animals in the Wild: Hippo, Belitha/Methuen (London, England), 1985.

Animals in the Wild: Gorilla, Belitha/Methuen (London, England), 1985.

Animals in the Wild: Wild Cat, Belitha/Methuen (London, England), 1986.

Animals in the Wild: Snake, Belitha/Methuen (London, England), 1986.

Animals in the Wild: Giraffe, Belitha/Methuen (London, England), 1986.

Animals in the Wild: Bear, Belitha/Methuen (London, England), 1986.

Animals in the Wild: Wild Dog, Belitha/Methuen (London, England), 1987.

Animals in the Wild: Seal, Belitha/Methuen (London, England), 1987.

Animals in the Wild: Antelope, Belitha/Methuen (London, England), 1987.

Animals in the Wild: Bird of Prey, Belitha/Methuen (London, England), 1987.

SIDELIGHTS: "Whenever I write, I am in touch with the five-year-old or seven-year-old or nine-year-old who is still inside me," Mary Hoffman wrote for Something about the Author Autobiography Series (SAAS). In her long essay, she described many of the memorable childhood events and friendships that molded the writer she is today. A recurring motif in the essay is Hoffman's ongoing fascination with play-acting and the invention of playlets and pantomimes. In the traditional British pantomime, she explained, there is always (at least) a leading male character (played by a woman) and an unappealing female character (played by a man). Hoffman's problem, she commented, was that she always wanted to play the lead, or all of the "good" parts combined, leaving her companions with the leftovers. She also noticed that many of the best parts were intended for boys.

The book that has won Hoffman the greatest recognition, on both sides of the Atlantic, is Amazing Grace. "Grace is really me," she declared in SAAS, "a little girl who loved stories and who loved acting them out." Grace also wanted to play the leading parts, even when people told her she could not appear in a male role. Hoffman once told CA, "I am a feminist and first got involved in children's books by assessing them in terms of their attitudes toward sex roles." In her recent essay, she commented, "Because things have moved on a bit in equality between the sexes since I was Grace's age, I added another level of challenge by making her Black." This gave people even more opportunities to try to dissuade Grace from pursuing her goal of playing Peter Pan.

According to an essayist for the St. James Guide to Children's Writers, "Although Mary Hoffman had written over forty books when she wrote Amazing Grace in 1991, it was this picture book that catapulted her into the limelight. In this she hit on something that touched so many people—that stereotypes of sex and colour, and particularly the limitations that are placed on people because of them. Her heroine Grace is always acting out her favourite stories, so naturally wants the star part in the school play of Peter Pan. As well as being a girl, Grace is black, both reasons why her classmates think she could not be Peter Pan. Grace auditions, gets the part, and plays it brilliantly, proving 'You can be anything you want, if you put your mind to it.' It is . . . sensitively and intelligently written, and . . . beautifully illustrated by Caroline Binch." Amazing Grace was also adapted for the stage and produced by the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Horn Book reviewer Mary M. Burns called the story "a dynamic introduction to one of the most engaging protagonists in contemporary picture books."

Hoffman wrote a sequel, Boundless Grace, because, as she stated in her SAAS essay, "Grace had become a role model for hundreds of thousands of children around the world, and if she could come to terms with a situation experienced by . . . many children today, it could really be helpful." Grace, now twelve years old, must face the separation and divorce of her parents. Hoffman and her illustrator, Caroline Binch, had to travel to the West African nation of Gambia to meet with the girl who had served as a photographic model for the first "Grace" book. Because of the photographic technique involved in creating the illustrations, no other model would do. It was natural, then, for the older Grace to move to Africa, too, to visit her father and his new wife and two step-siblings. She flies there with her grandmother, filled with anxiety about her reception into this new family. The lesson of the story, wrote a Publishers Weekly reviewer, is that "that families are what you make of them," concluding that Boundless Grace "is as assured and uplifting as its predecessor." Burns reported that "this story, like Grace, transcends social, cultural, and geographic boundaries."

"In the sequel . . . ," wrote the essayist for the St. James Guide to Children's Writers, "Mary Hoffman follows the same characters back to their native country of Gambia, and explores the difficult feelings that are aroused when families are kept apart by divorce. Grace's father was not in the first book, and the sequel shows him living in Africa. Once again, Mary Hoffman is honest in her portrayal of this situation, and the book is a touching and powerful portrait of a family who, though divided, feel deeply about each other."

In Starring Grace, the energetic youngster leads her friends as they play a series of imaginative games, including circus and ghost busters, all of which prepare them for roles in a local theatrical production. The first chapter book featuring the popular picture book character, Starring Grace presents "the excitement of dressing up and being part of a show," according to Hazel Rochman in Booklist. The reviewer for Horn Book found that "Grace is as appealingly irrepressible as ever."

Stravaganza: City of Masks is set in an alternate version of Renaissance Italy and tells the story of fifteen-year-old Lucien, who awakens in the strange city of Bellezza and finds himself in the midst of deadly political intrigue. Back home in England, Lucien is suffering from cancer. But in Bellezza, he is healthy once again. The Publishers Weekly reviewer believed that the "complex, at times slow-moving and somber story line . . . will likely intrigue more sophisticated readers." The critic for Kirkus Reviews found that the "fast-paced plot tightly integrates the fantastic with the historical, and frequent cuts between viewpoints ratchet up the suspense."

While her character Grace introduced many American readers to Hoffman, she had written nearly forty books by the time Grace first appeared. More than a dozen of these are titles in the "Animals in the Wild" series. "I have been a vegetarian since 1969," Hoffman once told CA, "and I like animals, particularly cats and reptiles." According to her SAAS essay, Hoffman's first book was White Magic, a story "about two cousins, a boy and a girl . . . who find a unicorn and have to look after it." Recent titles include The Four-Legged Ghosts, the tale of a pet mouse who somehow revives the ghosts of all past animal residents of the house where he lives, to the consternation of his "keepers" Carrie and Alex. A Publishers Weekly reviewer recommended the fantasy: "Readers will enjoy the mounting tension . . . and they will eagerly anticipate the resolution." Hoffman also wrote Earth, Fire, Water, Air, a wide-ranging miscellany of facts, poems, and stories about the elements that reflect what a Publishers Weekly critic called "a general reverence for the natural world." She followed this with Sun, Moon, and Stars, a similar collection of material on the luminaries of the sky.

Hoffman once told CA: "I have three daughters, and I have a good marriage. I worked through the whole period of having and raising babies, and have never had a nanny or au pair. I'm proud of my achievements and could never imagine not working."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

St. James Guide to Children's Writers, 5th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1999.

Something about the Author Autobiography Series, Volume 24, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1997.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 15, 2000, Hazel Rochman, review of Starring Grace, p. 1112; November 15, 2000, Gillian Engberg, review of The Barefoot Book of Brother and Sister Tales, p. 641.

Horn Book, July-August, 1995, p. 450; March, 2000, review of Starring Grace, p. 196

Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2002, review of The Color of Home, p. 1225; September 15, 2002, review of Stravaganza: City of Masks, p. 1392.

Publishers Weekly, July 12, 1993, p. 80; May 8, 1995, p. 294; December 18, 1995, p. 54; September 27, 1999, review of Three Wise Women, p. 61; May 15, 2000, "A Grace Note," p. 119; July 24, 2000, review of Parables: Stories Jesus Told, p. 91; October 9, 2000, review of The Barefoot Book of Brother and Sister Tales, p. 90; July 30, 2001, review of Miracles: Wonders Jesus Worked, p. 82; September 30, 2002, review of Stravaganza, p. 72.*