Two Different Books, One Very Important Theme

Sometimes I come across a book that allows me to bridge the reading gap between popular adult fiction and the reading levels of my middle school students. I have a few students that have shown an interest in the the book The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I'm assuming they have already seen the movie and are curious when adults tell them that the book is so much better. It's not that they can't read the book, but in the course of a school quarter, it would consume too much of their time.

 A Thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg is the perfect compliment to The Help and it is written at a level many of my students can read and share. A Thousand Never Evers compares to the help in that it is also set in the sixties, but in Kuckachoo, Mississippi, instead of Jackson, Mississippi. Addie Ann Pickett and her family all work for white bosses on the other side of the tracks similar to Aibileen Clark and her friends. Addie eventually is made responsible for the care and upbringing of Ralphie, the son of Mrs. Tate.  Addie develops a mother like bond to Ralphie that complicates things as the plot turns for the worst.  In The Help, Aibileen knows all to well about how developing a relationship greater than that of the white parents can complicate things between the boss's children and their black housekeepers.


Addie learns first hand about the hatred of blacks and whites in Mississippi after her own brother disappears defending her against white bullies. She also gets pulled into the drama about the garden that has been left to the entire community by the late Mr. Adams. The white families take over the garden as their own by twisting the words of Mr. Adams will to their favor. The failior of the garden falls on the shoulders of Addie's Uncle Buck and it's up to Addie to find the courage to save her family from certain revenge of white supremacy and a corrupt white legal system.

I will recommend both books to my students.  They both offer an excellent view into life of southern African Americans during a time when segregation, white supremacy, and racial injustice was the black eye of our American history. In A Thousand Never Evers the mystery of Addie's brother's disappearance, Uncle Bump's trial, and her father's death combine with  racial tensions in a community that is showing signs that they might just be ready to cross the racial barriers of the deep south.