Maw Books

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In  A Thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg, it’s 1963 in Kuckachoo Mississippi and Addie Ann Pickett is twelve years old and about to start middle school at West Thunder Creek Junior High School (more commonly known as County Colored).  She worries about whether or not playing Double Dutch is to babyish or if her chest will ever fill out like her friend Delilih.  She adores her older brother Elias, but who wouldn’t?  He’s smart, good looking, and works hard.  Annie Ann and her brother, as well as their mother and Uncle Bump live “across the tracks” away from the white side of town.  But one day while in town, a run in with a couple of white kids forces Elias to run away and go into hiding.  Addie Ann doesn’t know if he’s dead or alive.

In the meantime, the wealthy white man that Addie Ann and her uncle work for dies and leaves his garden to the entire community, meaning both blacks and whites are meant to work it together.  But of course the whites won’t let the blacks have anything to do with it and a community already riled with racial tension threatens to break out into violence.  When Uncle Bumps life is in danger, Addie Ann must decide if she has the courage to stand up and take action.  And in the process she not only learns how her father really died but also about bravery, life, love, and the power of a single individual.

Addie Ann’s voice is wonderfully real and authentic.  She begins as a small girl worried about the little things in life and is swept up in a movement that is much bigger than she is.  Through her voice and her eyes we learn about the injustices that blacks faced including segregation, church bombings, fighting to receive the vote, and the Klu Klux Klan.

Shana Burg reminded me of Mary Ann Rodman (my interview with Mary Ann), author of Yankee Girl.  Both authors had fathers who played a role in the civil rights movement in the south during the ’60’s and both wrote novels about coming of age during that time.  I’d recommend reading both.

I can’t recommend A Thousand Never Evers enough, it’s one that you don’t want to miss!  It is Shana Burg’s debut novel and I have a feeling that she has a great career ahead of her.  Shana is also wonderfully nice and lives in Austin (where my parents live) and even invited me to coffee next time I visit!  How often does one get that invitation?  Shana was gracious enough to share an interview with the Maw Books readers.  Watch for it up next!  You don’t want to miss it!

Links of interest:  Shana Burg’s website and blog.  Edited to add: Maw Books author interview and Shana’s butter bean cookies.
Genre:  Historical Fiction, approx ages 9-12
Publisher:  Delacorte Books for Young Readers.  June 10, 2008.
Hardcover, 320 pages.  ISBN: 0385734700
A Thousand Never Evers is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

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