Nightjohn
Author: Gary Paulsen Category: High School and (Young) Adult, Middle School, Perseverance and Determination, Slavery, Upper Elementary, Writing and Literature Language: English More Details“To know things, 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 . . . . That’s why they don’t want us reading.” — Nightjohn
“I didn’t know what letters was, not what they meant, but I thought it might be something I wanted to know. To learn.”–Sarny
Sarny, a female slave at the Waller plantation, first sees Nightjohn when he is brought there with a rope around his neck, his body covered in scars.
He had escaped north to freedom, but he came back–came back to teach reading. Knowing that the penalty for reading is dismemberment Nightjohn still returned to slavery to teach others how to read. And twelve-year-old Sarny is willing to take the risk to learn.
Source: Publisher
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