© 2002 Lynne Rhys-Jones. All rights reserved.
Book: Paulsen, G.
(1993). NightJohn.
Nightjohn, an American slave, escaped to the North -- and to freedom. In many books about slavery, this is where the story ends. But Nightjohn’s escape is only the beginning. Why would a slave who managed to escape to the North voluntarily return to slavery in the South? Sarny, a slave girl on the Waller plantation, is about to learn first hand. And she’s about to learn something else too – something that will change her life forever, because Nightjohn has returned to the South to teach slaves to read.
Sarny is eager for the knowledge that Nightjohn brings. But both she and Nightjohn know they will be beaten, disfigured, or even killed if the plantation owner finds out. As Nightjohn explains,
“For us to know things is bad for them. We get to wanting and when we get to wanting it’s bad for them. They thinks we want what they got.”
Sarny does want it. And so they begin, one letter at a time. And when Sarni goes to bed that first night, she holds off sleep so she can think about the letter “A” -- and the power it holds.
In Nightjohn, Sarny describes her dangerous odyssey, and what happens when she and Nightjohn get caught. And because author Gary Paulsen won’t allow Sarny to sugarcoat her story, Nightjohn is a gripping, gritty, realistic account of courage, cruelty, and subversion.
Nightjohn, by Gary Paulsen, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney.