Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Smalls (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Kevin and His Dad) sets her choppy tale in 1957 Harlem. Dana is jumping rope with her best friends, Cindybelle and Ellamae, when her godmother appears and announces, "My baby's passed a test. Goin' to an advanced school!" When she sees her friends on her way to her new, integrated school on the first day, Dana hears Cindybelle mutter to Ellamae, "She thinks she's better'n us cause she's goin' to that advanced school now." Dana, in her starched and pressed party dress, stands out from her classmates, who wear pleated skirts and sweater sets. Her teacher, also African-American, privately tells Dana not to use the word "ain't." But when the teacher visits Dana's home and says the forbidden word while chatting casually with Godmother, Dana immediately runs outdoors and makes peace with her pals. In the equally facile conclusion, Dana jumps rope to her own rhyme: "If you want to say 'ain't,'/ So people won't faint,/ And laugh and think you're quaint,/ Just say it at home./ And when you roam,/ Speaking proper sets de tone,/ So folks won't moan,/ And dat's that." Bootman's (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">In My Momma's Kitchen) spare, lifelike oil paintings credibly convey the era and the heroine's emotions. Unfortunately, even the book's positive message cannot overcome the stilted storytelling. Ages 6-9. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Feb.)

ALA Booklist (Sat Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2003)

When Dana gets the highest grade on the city test and is accepted into the advanced integrated school, her godmother boasts about it in the inner-city neighborhood. But Dana doesn't want to leave her old friends on the street, and she feels uncomfortable with the teacher and kids in her new school. The time is 1957, but the issues of class and prejudice are timeless, and Bootman's handsome, realistic oil paintings capture both the period setting and one child's personal conflict. There's not much of a story (Dana learns to hold on to her roots even as she succeeds at school with correct English), but the immediate words and pictures will bring children up close to the individual characters. Most moving is the portrait of Dana's godmother: she embarrasses Dana in public (She's goin' to grow up to be a doctor!) and nearly smothers the child with attention. Yet the best scene shows Dana teaching the older woman to read.

Kirkus Reviews

<p>Dana lives in Harlem in the 1950s and is smarta"so smart that she is selected to go to an integrated school. But it means being separated from her best friends. Her godmother insists she go to the new school in her best party dress but the other girls are dressed in skirts with matching sweater sets. Dana misses the "running jive and banter" of her friends and the teacher asks her not to use "ain't" in school. Her classmates ignore her but she has the gumption to answer the last math problem when no one else can. Although she does well in school, she has no friends and her best friends are never at the corner anymore. The last straw is her teacher's announcement that she will be visiting each student's home, and she will begin with Dana. When her teacher arrives, Dana discovers that her godmother and teacher are the best of friends and speak in the familiar language (replete with aints) that she and her friends do. She and her two friends finally talk it out and while they're playing their favorite game of double Dutch, Dana makes up a versea"'If you want to say ain't, So people won't faint, And laugh and think you're quaint, Just say it at home." The wonderfully realistic oil illustrations are reminiscent of the fifties (all of the girls wear skirts-even when jumping rope) but are static and posed. The verso title page includes a quote from The Trouble They Seen: Black People Tell the Story of Reconstruction wherein a Louisiana freedman says that his children should be educated so they can read to him and, since he trusts them, he will know it's true. Educators will find this useful for experiencing an historic time not often seen in books for this age level. (Picture book. 7-9)</p>

School Library Journal

Gr 2-4-Dana and her friends Cindybelle and Ellamae live in Harlem in the 1950s where Dana's godmother reminds them, "Don't say ain't, children. People judge you on how you speaks!" When her goddaughter's high scores on a special exam provide access to an advanced, integrated school, the girl isn't quite as enthusiastic as Godmother. Children snicker when her teacher corrects her speech, while at home, her friends call her "Miss Smarty Pants." One day, her teacher announces plans to visit each student's home, and Dana is first on the list. When she arrives, Dana is surprised to learn that "-Godmother knew Mrs. Middleton's mother back in Charleston, South Carolina." However, she is absolutely stunned when her teacher exclaims, "Honeychile, I ain't gonna eat more than one piece of your famous peach cobbler." Confused at first by the woman's use of nonstandard English, Dana is smart enough to discover an essential truth. She reconciles with her friends and announces, "If you want to say `ain't,'-/Just say it at home./And when you roam,/Speaking proper sets de tone-." Engaging, richly hued oil illustrations effectively capture the characters and setting. The flap copy notes that New York City schools were first integrated in 1957, and Smalls portrays the advantages open to a select group of students with subtlety. This perceptive and useful title can be used to generate discussion on a variety of issues.-Alicia Eames, New York City Public Schools Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Horn Book (Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2003)

In 1957, a bright African-American girl starts attending an "advanced school" to get a better education. In the somewhat didactic story, Dana learns how to fit in at her new school and still keep her old friends; she also figures out when to use Standard English and when to use "Black English." While the illustrations are occasionally awkward, they capture the story's many moods.