In a retrospective essay about the Newbery Medal-winning books from 1966 to 1975, children's author John Rowe Townsend wrote, "One might suspect that the book reflects in part a well-meant, but no longer acceptable, view of a black man as being a white man under the skin; for whom the brightest prospect is that of raising himself into acceptance by his former superiors."
John Rowe Townsend, in a retrospective essay about Newbery Medal-winning books from 1966 to 1975, wrote that the book might reflect a well-intentioned but no longer acceptable view of a black man as being white under the skin; for whom the brightest prospect is that of raising himself into acceptance by his former superiors.