New York: Viking, (1983) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - African American writer's first book, a comic novel about a baseball player, an elephant he wins, and a 9 year old runaway who adopts them both. The three friends hole up in a cabin and outfox all intruders, including the local sheriff, a drug smuggler, and a taxidermist with his eye on Renoir, the elephant. Although Everett has received many awards - including an award for lifetime achievement by the National Book Critics Circle - and the Washington Post described him as one of the most adventurously experimental of modern American novelists. he remains not nearly as well-known or read as he should be - although the award-winning film "American Fiction" based on his novel "Erasure" has finally begun to change that, as has the acclaim (and awards) given to his 2024 novel "James." 171 pp. ISBN: 0-670-681105.