[2] On behalf of Booklist, Amina Chaudhri described the book as "subtle and layered",[3] while Shelf Awareness's Karin Snelson referred to it as "graceful [and] gorgeous".

[3] According to Publishers Weekly, Weatherford "succeeds in evoking a world where prospect of Sunday becomes a way to withstand relentless toil and oppression" but "hits a few flat notes with her rhyming".

In addition to the text of the book, the film includes what Booklist reviewer Brian Wilson described as a "lengthy but informative foreword, penned by historian and Congo Square expert Freddi Williams Evans".

[22][23] Wilson described the film as a "moving presentation of Carole Boston Weatherford's powerful nonfiction picture book",[22] while School Library Journal's Lonna Pierce referred to is as "transcendent and inspiring".

[23] Wilson praised "JD Jackson's heartfelt narration",[22] which Pierce described as "rich", noting that it "weaves history, culture, music, and dance together into a vibrant cloth".

[22] Pierce highlighted "Christie's childlike, abstract cut-paper bodies", which "seem to leap off the screen, arms waving and tambourines shaking to the rhythmic drums, and the hypnotic music varies with each scene".