A Thousand Never Evers

A Thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg is a middle grade historical fiction novel. Set in Mississippi in 1963, the novel weaves together historical events with the life of the fictional Addie Ann Pickett, a 12-year-old Black girl living in Kuckachoo. The novel traces Addie Ann’s growth and development as she realizes the injustices of the American South and the prejudice that exists around her. The novel explores her journey to find her voice in the battle against this prejudice and the importance of community support in standing up for equality.

The novel was first published in 2008 and is Burg’s debut novel. She studied public policy in college and worked with groups throughout Mississippi on how to aid impoverished people and develop government organizations to support them. Burg states that her central motivation for writing A Thousand Never Evers is the prejudice that she faced growing up as a Jewish American and her parents’ history as advocates for equality in the Jim Crow South.

This guide refers to the First Yearling Paperback edition of the novel published in 2008.

Content Warning: This guide discusses depictions of racial violence and discrimination and quotes outdated and racially insensitive language.

Plot Summary

A Thousand Never Evers tells the story of Addie Ann Pickett, a 12-year-old girl growing up in Kuckachoo, Mississippi, in 1963. At the start of the novel, she has just graduated from elementary school and is excited at the prospect of starting at a new school in the fall.

She goes to find her 17-year-old brother, Elias, so that she can spend the dollar she got from her Uncle Bump as a graduation gift. However, at the shop, they are delayed—to her annoyance—as her brother discusses the death of civil rights leader Medgar Evers.

Addie Ann is given the news that the man she works for, Old Man Adams, has died, and that she has been left something in his will. At the reading of his will, she learns that she has been left a television and that Adams has left his garden to the entire community—white and Black—to be planted. However, it is clear from the reaction of the mayor and the sheriff—who pulls a gun on Uncle Bump for not giving them the keys—that the garden will only ever belong to the white community.

Shortly after that, Addie Ann goes with her family to a meeting at the Baptist Church. There, they hear Tyrone Tibbs, a leader in the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), talk about the larger civil rights movement occurring in the United States in the fight against segregation. Although she had previously been annoyed by her brother’s talk of the movement and had little interest in Evers’s death, she begins to realize the importance of the movement and how much inequality will impact her life.

Addie Ann and Elias go to the store, but while he is inside, she is attacked by Jimmy Worth for looking at his mother. Just as Jimmy steals her cat, Flapjack, Elias comes back outside and throws a jar of honey at Jimmy’s head, knocking him unconscious and causing him to break his leg in the fall. Elias then flees.

Addie Ann returns home to learn that her brother has not returned and that the Reverend’s Brigade—a group of men from the Black church—are out looking for him to protect him while the sheriff and his men are hunting him down. That night, Elias returns, but only to say goodbye as he flees from their home.

Over the next several weeks, the tension between the Black and white communities grows over the garden. The Black people are paid to plant the garden but are told that they can only pick from it on harvesting day several hours after the white people have already had access to it.

Meanwhile, Addie Ann struggles with her missing brother but starts a new job working for the Tate family—a white family with a young baby named Ralphie. She loves caring for Ralphie and also gets the opportunity to listen in on meetings of the Garden Club, the white people who meet to discuss what to do with the garden.

When harvest day comes, Addie Ann decides to skip school with Cool Breeze, the only other student who walks from Kuckachoo with her to the middle school each day. They go to the garden, where the Black community has gathered to demand access to the garden at the same time as the white people. However, upon entering the garden, they realize that someone has planted butterbean seeds through it and destroyed it.

The following day, Addie Ann hears from Honey Worth that Uncle Bump is being blamed for the destruction of the garden. She rushes home through the forest and sees a man digging a hole but puts little thought into it as he chases her away. When she gets home, she realizes that Mama has already heard the news, but neither Mama nor Reverend Walker can convince Uncle Bump to flee. Instead, he remains in Addie Ann’s home until the sheriff comes and burns down the home and Uncle Bump’s shed before taking Uncle Bump to jail.

Despairing at the loss of her home, Addie Ann is taken to a milkweed field where Elias is hiding. After nearly 100 days, she is excited to see him again but also concerned about what is happening to Uncle Bump. They discuss the situation, and Elias reveals to her that their family has been keeping a secret from Addie Ann: Their father did not die of pneumonia but rather at the hands of a white mayor for whom their father refused to build a house.

Enraged at being lied to and at learning of her father’s fate, Addie Ann returns to her burned home. She uses her anger to rally the members of the community while sending people to different areas of the county to bring in other towns.

As a group, they march to the jailhouse, where they join people from all over the county to prevent anyone from coming to the jailhouse to harm Uncle Bump. While they are gathered, Addie Ann tells the story of her father to motivate the group.

The following day, Uncle Bump is taken to court. To Addie Ann’s surprise, Elias had written to the NAACP and gotten a lawyer, Miss Gold, to defend Uncle Bump. Over the next five days leading up to his trial date, Elias secretly helps Miss Gold prepare for the trial while Addie Ann and her mother stress over it. During these days, she repeatedly dreams of the man in the woods before realizing that the person she saw was Sam Mudge (whom Elias has worked for and who has attended Garden Club meetings). She decides to hold onto the information but reveal it if it becomes important at the trial.

Throughout the trial, the situation looks grim for Uncle Bump. Miss Gold’s efforts to have a fair trial are repeatedly thwarted by the judge, who seems uninterested in uncovering the truth. However, Mrs. Tate comes forward to testify, explaining that her husband sold enough butterbean seeds to destroy the garden to Mr. Mudge. Addie Ann sees this as connected to seeing Mr. Mudge in the woods and convinces the judge and jury to come to the forest.

In the forest, Addie Ann uncovers butterbean seed sacks that Mr. Mudge had buried. In her closing argument, Miss Gold then connects these seeds to the destruction of the garden, stating that Mr. Mudge is the likely culprit, having destroyed the garden to ensure that people continued to buy from his store instead of growing their own food.

To everyone’s surprise, Uncle Bump is acquitted of the crime and is set free. Shortly after that, he discusses his future with Addie Ann, Mama, and Elias. Uncle Bump and Elias decide to leave the town so that Uncle Bump can continue to help Elias secretly work with the NAACP and the civil rights movement. Meanwhile, Addie Ann remains to finish out her year at school.

In the final scene of the novel, Addie Ann goes to a meeting where the Black and white communities are finally meeting to discuss the garden together. However, she sees Mrs. Tate with Ralphie, who becomes visibly upset after seeing Addie Ann. She then follows Mrs. Tate outside, where Mrs. Tate allows her to hold Ralphie. Addie Ann consoles him, and he wraps his hand around her finger.