A Thousand Never Evers [Hardcover]

Shana Burg (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

IN KUCKACHOO, MISSISSIPPI, 1963, Addie Ann Pickett worships her brother Elias and follows in his footsteps by attending the black junior high school. But when her careless act leads to her brother’s disappearance and possible murder, Addie Ann, Mama, and Uncle Bump struggle with not knowing if he’s dead or alive. Then a good deed meant to unite Kuckachoo sets off a chain of explosive events. Addie Ann knows Old Man Adams left his land to the white and black people to plant a garden and reap its bounty together, but the mayor denies it. On garden picking day, Addie Ann’s family is sorely tested. Through tragedy, she finds the voice to lead a civil rights march all her own, and maybe change the future for her people.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A Thousand Never Evers, a debut novel by Shana Burg, creates a convincing portrait of the South during the Civil Rights Movement. The book follows a year in the life of Addie Ann Pickett, a girl on the verge of her early teens in Kuckapoo, Mississippi in 1963. Addie Ann goes through some of the biggest changes of her young life just as the whole world around her is changing. On the one hand, she's an ordinary girl: she babysits, she enjoys school, and has crushes. On the other hand, everything Addie Ann knows about her world is crashing down as she begins to understand more about what is really going on (in her family and in her town), her place in history as she forms her own opinions and takes personal action. Addie Ann's voice is convincing and compelling, and her story provides an important perspective on the impact of tremendous social changes occurring in the South during the early 1960s.

Author Shana Burg's father was a civil rights attorney, and she grew up hearing stories about Medgar Evers, Emmett Till, and the March on Washington. Mining those stories, as well as conducting a fair amount of research and drawing upon her experiences as a teacher, paid off. Addie Ann is a courageous and memorable character--one with whom younger readers should be able identify. Her experiences can truly give readers a sense of what it might have felt like to live in those historic times. (Ages 9-12) --Heidi Broadhead

From School Library Journal

Grade 5–8—Burg's debut novel, set in 1963, is told through the eyes of Addie Ann Pritchett, a seventh-grade African American. She finds herself embroiled in the Civil Rights Movement that affects her family and her little town in the Mississippi Delta in profound and personal ways. To start, there's the death of the richest man in town, who bequeaths his land to everyone in Kuckachoo so that, "together whites and Negroes shall plant a garden." Addie and her mother work as household help for a young couple in town, where the girl overhears hateful remarks made by members of the Garden Club, who have no intention of sharing the produce from Old Man Adams's land across racial lines. Meanwhile, Addie's brother accidentally breaks the leg of a white bully who is tormenting her cat and flees into the bayou. Elias disappears and is feared drowned. Weaving in and out of these serious concerns are the normal insecurities of a girl on the brink of adolescence. Addie's relationships with her family and friends are interesting and well developed. The civil rights issues that come to a head as Addie's uncle is arrested and in danger of being lynched will make the injustices of the era vivid for today's readers. The protagonist moves from protected innocence out to the larger, often-threatening world and finds strength in her family, her community, and herself. This is not a perfect book—some of the dialogue seems stiff-but it is a compelling story that doesn't oversimplify complex situations.—Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Public Library, NY
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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (June 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385734700
• ISBN-13: 978-0385734707
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 1.1 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #753,535 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Powerful Story Everyone Should Read, July 1, 2008

By 

The Well-Read Child "http://wellreadchild.blo... - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Thousand Never Evers (Hardcover)

If there's one book you, your children, and your students should read this summer, it's Shana Burg's debut novel, A Thousand Never Evers.

Set in Kuckachoo, Mississippi in 1963, A Thousand Never Evers is historical fiction told from the point of view of the 12-year-old African American girl, Addie Ann Pickett. Kuckachoo is a town separated by color--"the white side" and "the colored side." Racism runs deep, and the town sheriff may be the biggest racist of them all. When Addie Ann makes fun of a white lady's hat, her brother disappears. On top of not knowing whether or not her brother is alive, an incident with the town garden leaves Addie Ann's Uncle Bump on trial, and Addie Ann must find the courage to save him.

Even though Addie Ann's story is fiction, the novel is interwoven with real incidents, tragedies, and figures from the Civil Rights Movement: the deaths of Medgar Evers and Emmitt Till, the church bombing that killed the four little girls, the struggle for the vote, the ridiculous tests African Americans were required to pass before they could register to vote, the terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan, the downright racism African Americans faced every single day, and more.

Through Shana Burg's powerful and emotional writing, you can feel the fear, the injustice, and even the hope that countless many experienced during this dark time in our country's history.

A Thousand Never Evers is also a coming of age story. We see Addie Ann grow from a girl who didn't really think much about "the movement," to one who matures and fights passionately for justice. Without being "preachy," the book sends the message about the importance of standing up for yourself and those around you, preserving your self worth, having the courage to fight for the truth regardless of how frightening the consequences may be, and not judging people based on their outward appearance.

I give this book my highest recommendation and predict that this will be a front runner for the Newbery Medal.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rewarding and powerful, June 16, 2008

By 

Aaron (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Thousand Never Evers (Hardcover)

A Thousand Never Evers tells a story of changes that took place in the Deep South with the end of Jim Crow segregation and the rise of the Civil Rights Movement. What's most amazing is that it's from the viewpoint of a 12-year-old girl and how she sees the everyday injustice that's forced upon her and her family, and how she grows over the course of the book to fight for her family and herself. It combines the details of history in a very different time and place with a suspenseful plot. Although I bought it for my 11-year-old daughter, I couldn't put it down. This book is very important, and kids should read it, and they'll enjoy it. And my daughter loved it too!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Making Social Justice Accessible to a New Generation, June 29, 2008

By 

Alon Tal (Chapel Hill, North Carolina) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Thousand Never Evers (Hardcover)

Every so often a book comes along that takes an important historical chapter in history and renews it, using fiction as a vehicle to bring the period alive. There have been sundry books written about the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S., but Shana Burg's new book breathes fresh air into the period. Her characters are marvelous, truly unforgetable and her prose resonates throughout. Perhaps most important, for a new generation of American youth, whose context for social justice is so different from what existed less than a century ago, this book will be a wake up call, offering both an index of how far we've come and a sense of what needs to be done. Of course it is much more than a just wonderful book for young adults -- it's a terrific read for anyone. In short: A Thousand Never Evers is not only a great story. It's an important one too.