Despite the predictable plot and characters and the story's pat resolution, [A New and Different Summer] is highly readable and has great appeal in its evocation of a happy, loving family. Not challenging fiction, but lighthearted and fun to read. One unnecessary scene gives the story an ugly flaw. At a baby shower, Katie asks a Negro girl if she is married.

"'I was' came the casual answer. 'I got me two little kids, but right now I ain't got no man'."… The scene and comment are extraneous to the plot and needlessly perpetuate the stereotype of the shiftless Negro. (p. 174)