Although this is Harrington's first poetry book, her prior and forthcoming children's book publications and experience as a professional storyteller have provided a ready-made audience. She worked as a storyteller through the 1990s, appearing at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee, the national festival of the Black Storytelling Association, and the national conference of the American Library Association. She was listed in Storytellers: A Biographical Dictionary of 120 English-Speaking Performers Worldwide, and performed widely at festivals, libraries, and museums. As a librarian, she has served on both the Caldecott Committee and the American Library Association's Notable Books Committee for Children. Starting from a pool of more than 900 submissions, Harrington's debut collection was selected by acclaimed poet Elizabeth Spires as winner of the 2006 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize. Spires has written an in-depth and inspired Foreword to the collection.

The narrative content of the collection - following the travails of a black working-class family in pre-Civil Rights era South - dovetails excellently with Harrington's work as a storyteller and children's book author.