James Berry "has acquired a considerable reputation for fusing two cultures into a sensitive understanding of both in prose and poetry," according to a Junior Bookshelfcritic. The same reviewer went on to comment that Berry "draws upon his West Indian memories for subject matter and his wide acquaintance with the richness of English language as a means of expression." The recipient of numerous honors, Berry "is not just another fist-raising polemicist," according to Booklist's James Parisi. In his poems, as in his short stories and novel for young readers, Berry paints not only a self-portrait, but also a sketch of his people, the conflicts, "injustices, and coming to conscious identity of a colonized race," according to Parisi.

Berry himself noted in his acceptance speech for a 1993 Boston Globe-Horn Book award that as a child he only slowly understood the legacy of slavery and oppression that touches...