by Moe Zilla

Created on: August 26, 2010

"Walk tall in the world,"
says Mama
to Everett Anderson.
"The year is new and so are the days,
walk tall in the world,"
she says.

Lucille Clifton is a poet, and in 1969 her first poetry collection, "Good Times," was chosen as one of the year's best books by the New York Times (according to Wikipedia). But the next year she began a series of children's books about an African-American boy named Everett Anderson. By 1974, she'd placed the character into a new "book of months," featuring a poem for every month of the year. And each poem in "Everett Anderson's Year" is accompanied by a beautiful

two-color woodcut drawing that's tinted with red or blue.

"Everett Anderson
in the snow
is a specially
ice cream boy to know
as he jumps and calls
and spins and falls
with his chocolate nose and
vanilla toes."

This book was written while Clifton was the poet-in-residence at Coppin State College in Baltimore, and illustrator Ann Grifalconi dedicates it "to all our years." The post-1960s placed a lot of importance on personal expression, and Clifton's book seems determined to raise Everett's experiences into something universal.

I already know where Africa is
and I already know how to
count to ten and
I went to school every day last year,
why do I have to go again?

Sometimes Everett can seem like he's just a generic stand-in for all children, though this book's simple style may also not be the best introduction to the character. But it does hint at some of the dramas to come. In 1983, Clifton published "Everett Anderson's Good-bye," with poetry describing the boy's attempts to understand the death of his father. This book seems to acknowledge that backstory in the page dedicated to the month May, where Everett is seen alone, arms wrapped around his knees, in a drawing that's tinted blue.

Remember the time we took a ride
to the country and saw a horse and a cow,
and remember the time I picked a weed
and Daddy laughed and laughed real loud,
and remember he spanked me for throwing stones?
I wish it could be like that now,
thinks Everett Anderson when he's alone.

When Thanksgiving rolls around, the illustration shows Everett praying, and he thanks god for his mother, and turkey and fun, and then thanks god for Daddy, "wherever he is."  I wondered if this book might be a little bit arty for young readers, though adults may enjoy the stark gravity of its illustrations, and the poems which are sometimes profound and playful. But it's also an interesting way to get a new perspective on the history of poets in America. Four years after publishing this book, Lucille Clifton was chosen as the Poet Laureate for the state of Maryland.

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