Nightjohn

By Gary Paulsen

Nightjohn tells the story of a slave named John who escaped and fled to the North where he found freedom.  However, he felt a need to teach other slaves to read and write so they could "write about this - what they doing to us."  Therefore, he returned to the South to teach reading and writing.  He was then caught by a man named Waller, who whipped him and took him to work on his Plantation.  There, John meets Sarny, a young girl who desperately wants to learn how to read.  The story focuses on John, Sarny and the other slaves on Waller's plantation, and tells of the events that came about and the severe consequences for learning to read.

The story is told from twelve-year-old Sarny's point of view.  Young readers become interested in the events as they are told from her perspective.  The events unfold during the time of the Civil War on a southern plantation.  The harsh reality of this era is depicted in Paulsen's writing, as he does not refrain from telling of the unimaginable cruelty with which the slaves were treated.  The characters seem real and believable, and their actions seem to accurately portray the contrasting experiences and lifestyles of the slaves and the people in the "white house."  The attitudes demonstrated in the book accurately reflect those of the time period, and the universal theme to which we can all relate is that of striving for what one believes in, such as John risking his life to teach others how to read and write so their story won't go untold.  The style Paulsen uses to write his book certainly reflects the flavor of the time, and is written exactly as one would expect to hear it directly from Sarny's mouth.  The dialogue captures the speech patterns of the era.

Nightjohn is a powerful book that accurately depicts the cruel, unfair treatment of slaves.  The book is also motivating as readers follow John and become aware of the great risk he is taking to teach others to read and write.  I feel that reading Nightjohn can prove to be a truly educating, eye-opening experience for readers of all ages.