[4] Hamilton's opening paragraph format was inspired in part by Truman Capote's short story "Children on their Birthdays.

"[4] Theresa "Tree" Pratt is a wise-beyond-her-years teenager in Ohio, caring for her developmentally disabled older brother, Dab, while their mother is often away working.

[1] Hamilton explores questions of identity, the supernatural, the need to belong within a family, and encounters with death through a Black American point of view.

[4] Kirkus Reviews, in reviewing Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush, called it "One of Hamilton's deeply felt family stories" and wrote "like other Hamilton novels this has its rough edges, but they are outweighed here by the blazing scenes, the intensity of Tree's feelings, the glimpses of Dab through her eyes, and the rounded characterization of Vy.

"[5] In the Interracial Books for Children Bulletin, Geraldine Wilson wrote that the novel "is like a thoughtfully designed African American quilt.