Recently, my friend Anne Bustard recommended this book, not only because it's well-written and an excellent story, but because she recently had lunch with the author, Shana Burg, a fellow Austinite, and they had a swell time.

As the story is set in Mississippi, I figured it would be in our library system.  Wrong.  When the Caledonia librarian ordered a copy through interlibrary loan, the book came from the Virginia Beach Public Library.  Unbelievable.  After reading Addie Ann's emotional journey as a twelve-year-old witness to the horrors of discrimination, I feel like writing to every MS congressperson and insisting they purchase a copy for every public and school library in the state.  A Thousand Never Evers takes place in 1963 in the Delta, and is both beautifully written and educational.  Younger readers will learn a lot about the civil rights movement, its key players, and major events, but always through the experiences of the protagonist and her family.  The key plot points involve her brother Elias and his disappearance after protecting Addie Ann from white bullies, and a community garden that was left to both the black and white communities, a fact which is denied by the bigoted white sheriff, so the black community is shut out.  Author Shana Burg maintains the perfect amount of tension throughout the story, but thanks to her character's innate optimism, the story never sinks into despair.

One of the best historical novels I've read in a long time,  I hope this evocative story gets some good press and publicity, and award consideration.  You can read the first chapter of the novel here.