Describe Amazing Grace Pictures

Blind kids benefit from picture descriptions every bit as much as sighted kids do from seeing the pictures. Don't forget to share these picture descriptions, written by a descriptive audio expert, especially for Great Expectations!

Picture Descriptions for Amazing Grace

• Front cover and endpaper

  Grace, an African American girl about six years old with big brown eyes, flashes a gap-toothed smile. She wears striped ribbons in her braided pigtails, tiny blue-stone earrings, and a pink and white striped blouse.

• Title page

  In four portraits, Grace wears a helmet and holds a sword; dresses up in a yellow cape and hand-decorated crown; wears stage makeup and a whimsical green headdress; and peers through glasses with a scarf wrapped around her forehead.

• First page of story; illustration only

  In a yellow sweater with matching yellow ribbons in her hair, Grace leans on her Nana's lap. She smiles at the gray-haired woman. Nana holds Grace's hand as she gazes warmly at her granddaughter. A baby doll with a brown complexion like Grace, and a blue ribbon in her hair, sits propped up beside them on floral couch cushions.

• Text begins: "Grace was a girl who loved stories."

  Surrounded by storybooks, Grace sits cross-legged on the floor. She holds up two dolls to act out a story. Her pet tabby cat twitches its whiskers at the long ribbon dangling from the baby doll's hair.

• Text begins: "Grace went into battle as Joan of Arc…"

  In a grassy yard, Grace and three friends wear homemade helmets, capes, and shields. Leading the charge, Grace thrusts a toy dagger into the air.

• Text begins: "and wove a wicked web…"

  Grace's eyes peer out from underneath the brim of a bowler hat as she perches atop a high metal railing. Six black and brown stockings hang around and between her own dangling limbs like spider legs.

• Text begins: "She hid inside the wooden horse…"

  A makeshift horse made out of a cardboard box has a dustpan brush for a tail. For the head, a cloth bag sewn with eyes and nostrils hangs from a stick for a neck. Grace peeks out from inside the box through a window-flap cut into the side as the tabby cat slinks up to the horse's stuffed head.
  
  Now Grace, in a colorful robe and headdress, sits astride an elephant statue, shouting and brandishing a long stick. Two other children race around her.

• Text begins: "She sailed the seven seas…"

  Grace, dressed as a pirate with an eyepatch and a stuffed parrot taped to her shoulder, peers through a pretend telescope. She balances on a kitchen chair. With one of her legs tied back, a wooden stick takes its place. The cat rubs against her calf and gazes down at the floor below.

• Text begins: "She was Aladdin…"

  A gold charm hangs from a necklace chain draped across Grace's forehead. She cradles a small ceramic teapot in her hands.

• Text begins: "and Mowgli…"

  On a stone path, Grace crouches on all fours behind her cat. Two teddy bears and a blue toy rabbit sit propped up on a blanket under a nearby tree.

• Text begins: "Most of all Grace loved to act…"

  Grace slings a backpack hanging from a stick over one shoulder. She wears ski gloves and an oversized floppy hat. The cat paws at a long string trailing behind her. A sunflower almost as tall as Grace sprouts from the edge of the stone path under her bright red rain boots.

• Text begins: "Sometimes she could get Ma and Nana to join in…"

  Grace's Ma and Nana wear toilet-paper bandages wrapped around their heads and ankles. Grace listens to her grandmother's heart using a stethoscope fashioned out of a wooden spoon and a length of twine.

• Text begins: "One day Grace's teacher said…"

  At school, Grace and her classmates raise their hands while sitting cross-legged on the floor. Colorful blocks lie scattered around them, and crayon drawings hang on the wall.

• Text begins: "When Grace got home…"

  Still wearing her school backpack, Grace looks up at her mother, who lays comforting hands on her daughter's shoulders. Grace's Ma has a short afro hairstyle and wears a plaid outfit.

• Text begins: "Grace cheered up…"

  Her face glum, Grace leans against the kitchen table, Nana's arms around her. Grace's Ma, seated next to them, gazes at her daughter with concern, her head resting on her hands.

• Text begins: "On Saturday Nana told Grace…"

  Grace and Nana, bundled up in their jackets on a windy day, walk up to an ornate theater entrance.

• Text begins: "Are we going to the ballet…"

  They gaze at a poster featuring a dark-skinned ballerina wearing pointe shoes and a red tutu.

• Text begins: "That one is little Rosalie…"

  Grace clutches her baby doll and smiles as her grandmother bends down to speak to her.

• Text begins: "After the ballet…"

  Wearing a floaty pink skirt with a ruffled hem, Grace twirls and strikes joyful poses.

• Text begins: "On Monday the class met…"

  Her classmates smile as they watch Grace. In a headscarf and a cape made from a yellow sheet, she acts out a scene. Other dress-up items spill from a basket on the floor.

• Illustration only — no text

  A spotlight shines on Grace, dressed in a fantastical green costume. Stretching her arms and reaching one leg behind her like a ballerina, she beams with a confident happiness.

• Text begins: "The play was a big success…"

  Grace, in her green headpiece and stage makeup, wears a happy smile. Behind her, Grace's Ma and Nana grin proudly at each other.

• Text begins: "How it all began…"

  Next to the author's signature, a photo shows three pages of lined paper with handwritten notes for "Amazing Grace".
  
  Pencil sketches of two scenes from the story are featured next to the illustrator's signature.

• Text begins: "In celebration of…"

  The upper corner of the page displays a color photo of Levar Burton, an African American man with close-cropped hair and a neat moustache.

• Illustration only — no text

  Against a blank background, a color illustration shows Grace auditioning for Peter Pan. Posed as if flying, she wears pink pants and a white teeshirt with her homemade costume. A cape made from a patterned yellow sheet fastens around her neck, and a yellow scarf wraps around her head.

• Endpaper

  A black-and-white pencil sketch of Grace's tabby cat shows the furry animal walking with its tail lifted in a gentle curl.

• Back cover

  Four images show Grace dancing. Her floaty pink skirt with a ruffled hem billows around her knees as she twirls.

These descriptions were written by Jill Robbins for Great Expectations