NightJohn

Paulsen, Gary. NightJohn. New York: Bantam Doubleday. 1993.
ISBN 0-440-91014-5

Summary

NightJohn is the story of a slave girl named Sarny who learns to read when a slave named John comes to the plantation. John knows how to read and has gone on a mission to teach slaves to read, which is illegal. John goes from plantation to plantation teaching whoever is willing to be taught, sometimes at a very high price. This story is carefully crafted with historical accuracy in mind to tell more than just Sarny’s story, but the stories of slaves throughout the history of the United States. The setting, plot, characters, and theme are all appropriate for a story in the south prior to the Civil War. The cruelty of slave owners, and the strength of Sarny and John make this a lasting story. Paulsen addresses with care tough parts of what would have been real life at the time from eating out of a trough to being hung by chains on a wall until you are beaten at the end of the day, he handles these hard concepts without being disrespectful to the people this really happened to. Paulsen excels at giving enough information to understand what is going on, but not so much that you are overwhelmed, which allows for your imagination to make up for the difference. The following quote when Sarny is caught writing words in the dirt describes more than this summery can say:

“’It’s all my doings.’ I pulled at the chains but they don’t give. ‘ I be making the word and forgot where I was and he saw me and now he’s going to whip you.’”

Reviews

“What gives the story transcendence is the character Nightjohn, who fires Sarny with hope. He once escaped north to freedom, and now he's come back to teach slaves what is fiercely forbidden them--reading. When he's caught showing Sarny the alphabet, two of his toes are cut off, but he escapes again.”
-Booklist (Vol. 89, No. 8 (December 15, 1992))

A searing picture of slavery, sometime in the 19th century at an unspecified place in the South. Sarny, young enough not to have experienced the rape that will come inexorably with child-bearing age, tell Kirkus Review (1993)
-Kirkus Review (1993)

Enrichment Activity

To follow reading NightJohn, teaching the students some of the spirituals that were sung in the time period might be appropriate. Going over the words and the ideas behind them would be a very important task, and one to do carefully to help the students understand why songs like this would be sung. Playing a recording of one would be helpful as well as looking at the lyrics. Then have the students each write their own song incorporating some of the events that occurred in NightJohn.