Some of the Days of Everett Anderson

Some of the Days of Everett Anderson
Lucille Clifton with illustrations by Evaline Ness/ published 1970 by Henry Holt

This one is definitely a weeper. I bought it a while back at a library sale, and haven't yet shown it to my son, but I personally love it. Poems that follow the seven days of the week for a city boy named Everett. Each poem is different. Some happy. Some vaguely sad. But either way, they gives crystal clear insight into the psyche of a lively and smart young man. This poem is entitled "Saturday Night Late".

The siren seems so far away
when people live in 14A,
they can pretend that all the noise
is just some other girls and boys
running and
laughing and
having fun
instead of whatever it is
whispers
Everett Anderson.

Lucille Clifton is a poet of some fame and the words in this book make it easy to see why. Really, the first time I read it, I was moved to tears, not really because the story is unhappy, but rather because it is so real and honest and true. A
lot of six-year-olds in this world could learn volumes from little Mr. Anderson.

by:
Sam, Bangs & Moonshine
Fierce the Lion