Everett Anderson's 1-2-3

Lucille Clifton

Henry Holt and Company (BYR), 2002 - Juvenile Nonfiction - 32 pages

A perceptive story of how a young boy adjusts to the new man in his single mother's life.

"One can be lonely and One can be fun, and
Two can be awful or perfect for some, and
Three can be crowded or can be just right or
even too many, you have to decide."

One can have fun alone, thinks Everett Anderson. And when it's just Everett and his mama-well, two is fine, too. But three . . . Everett tries to understand why Mama and Mr. Perry like to spend so much time together, although it's hard, at first.

About the author

Lucille Clifton was born in Depew, New York on June 27, 1936. She was the first person in her family to graduate from high school. She attended Howard University, where she majored in drama, for two years before deciding that she would rather write poetry. Her first poetry collection Good Times was published in 1969. During her lifetime, she wrote 11 books of poetry and 20 children's books. She won numerous awards including the Coretta Scott King Award for Everett Anderson's Good-bye in 1984, the National Book Award for Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems, 1988-2000 in 2001, and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize award in 2007. She was the Poet Laureate of Maryland from 1979 to 1985. She died after a long battle with cancer and other illnesses on February 13, 2010 at the age of 73.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Everett Anderson's 1-2-3; An Owlet book; Volume 5 of Everett Anderson
• Author: Lucille Clifton
• Illustrated by: Ann Grifalconi
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (BYR), 2002
• ISBN: 0805070486, 9780805070484
• Length: 32 pages
• Subjects: Juvenile Fiction / Family / Alternative Family; Juvenile Fiction / Family / Marriage & Divorce; Juvenile Fiction / Family / Parents; Juvenile Fiction / Social Themes / Emotions & Feelings; Juvenile Fiction / Stories in Verse; Juvenile Nonfiction / Social Topics / Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance