Publishers Weekly
- Publisher's Weekly
A streetwise teenage mother goes to live with religious relatives in Georgia in this "unusually perceptive, streetwise novel," said PW in a starred review. "The emotions ring true, as does the portrait of contemporary black culture." Ages 12-up. (Feb.)
The ALAN Review
- Kay Parks Bushman
When teen mother Gayle gets pregnant for the second time, as if it's no big deal, her mother marches her to the local clinic for an abortion and ships her and her baby Jose away to live with relatives down South. There she must learn to deal with her preacher uncle; her strict, value-laden aunt; and her cousin Cookie, whose life is filled with singing solos and youth group at church. Although Gayle is given the choice to stay home from school to care for Jose, she is also given many chores, among which is to care for her bed-ridden Great-Grandmother. Ironically, it is with Great that Gayle connects, is able to be herself, and learns the value of family. This is undoubtedly one of the best books that I have read, not only for its strong characters and themes, but also for its rich African-American voice which brings the characters to life.
Children's Literature
- Mary Sue Preissner
Unable to raise her headstrong 14-year old daughter in New York, Mama sends Gayle and her infant son on a one-way trip South, to the family home. The formidable minister-uncle and his prim and proper wife provide Gayle with a home, rules, responsibilities, and a new exposure to life, including their knee-sock wearing, 16-year old, Jesus-praising daughter "Cookie." As Gayle blends into this extended family, she is chosen by Great her great-grandmother to be the keeper of the family's oral history. The power of family and accurate portrayal of teenage girls are sure to make this one a hit with young adult readers.
Children's Literature
- Susie Wilde
The main character, Gayle, lives in a New York urban area with her widowed mother and brother. The book opens as her mother drags pregnant Gayle and her seven-month-old baby to the Women's Clinic for an abortion. With less skillful handling, I would have shut the cover quickly, but Williams-Garcia's dialogue teems with humor, emotion, and directness. Her style turns street talk into literature. When Gayle protests her mothers action, "S'pose I want to keep it. It's mines." Her mother answers with a retort that is deadly serious but filled the richness of the African-American storytelling voice: "As long as you fourteen and in my house, you mines... What you think I'm running? Does my door say South Jamaica Welfare Hotel? No. Do you see Hoe House on my mailbox?" Williams-Garcia goes on to place Gayle in an alien world when she's sent "down Souf" to live with her proper aunt, minister uncle, and kneesock-wearing, Bible-toting cousin where she feels like a "house slave" in her ancestral home. Eventually, removed from the streets, she begins learning about the past, what family means, and how the street has robbed her of a slow sexual blossoming. None of this comes easily or gracefully, but that's part of the author's genius. Her character changes believable, because readers know Gayle to be a young woman of intelligence and sensitivity, even though she prefers to hide this with attitude.
School Library Journal
Gr 7 Up-This is a wonderful book about going home again, about the strength of family love, and about the power of friendship. Gayle is a black 14-year-old mother who, when she becomes pregnant again, is sent South to do some growing up among relatives she doesn't know and doesn't particularly like. Streetwise, sullen, disrespectful, and angry, she gradually comes under the spell of her wise and very old great-grandmother. Great is feisty, quarrelsome, soils herself, and never leaves her room, but with her dying words gives Gayle the gift of both the past and the future. Gayle comes to know her aunt and uncle, and especially her cousin, but she also discovers what her mother must have been like as a young woman. This knowledge allows her to better understand the importance of family and friendship. Beautifully written, the text captures the cadence and rhythm of New York street talk and the dilemma of being poor, black, and uneducated. This is a gritty, realistic, well-told story that will make an excellent addition to YA fiction collections.-Carol Jones Collins, Montclair Kimberley Academy, NJ
