"Focusing her attention on contemporary African American youth," writes Susan P. Bloom in Twentieth-Century Young Adult Writers, "Rita Williams- Garcia informs her fictional teenagers with her own experiences as student, as teacher, as dancer." Her three young adult novels to date show young black men and women living and coping with difficulties in an honest, uncontrived manner. "Williams-Garcia's portrayal of these urban black adolescents and their worlds feels genuine, neither sensationalized nor romanticized," declares Horn Book contributor Rudine Sims Bishop. "Her work is marked by an authentic rendering of the styles and cadences of urban black language, some touches of humor, and strong, dynamic characterization." Together with such African American writers as Jacqueline Woodson, Dolores Johnson, and Angela Johnson, says Bishop, Williams-Garcia "show[s] great promise, and with continuing support and nurturing, ... may well turn out to be among the most prominent African- American literary artists of the...