Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen
Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen is a very slim 92 pages. But in those 92 pages, you will be cringing, covering your mouth in horror and squeezing your eyes shut so you won’t be able to read the words. At least that’s what I did. What a raw look into pre-Civil War slavery. Sarny is twelve years old and doesn’t remember her real mammy or rather her birthing mammy, because she was sold away when she was only four. Her other mammy, old Delie, took care of all of the children on the Waller plantation.
To say that life is difficult for the slaves is a most horrific understatement. They are treated as property in the truest sense. You would think that you would take care of your property. Right? Not Master Waller. He’s brutal – a whipping, kicking, beating, spitting kind of man who thinks the only way slaves can be motivated is through fear and intimidation.
I’d like to have somebody show me a meaner antagonist than Master Waller. He is the worse that I have ever read about. He is pure evil and if there is a hell for fictional characters I’m sure he’s there. But what makes this story all the more horrifying is the imprint before the book “Except for variations in time and character identification and placement, the events written in this story are true and actually happened.”
John, known as Nightjohn, arrives at the plantation in shackles, a rope around his neck and stark naked. From the scars on his back everybody knows that he’s a runner and a difficult one. Sarny discovers that John knows his letters and numbers and that he’s willing to teach her. He had once escaped to the North but came back to secretly teach slaves how to read. To both teach and learn reading is a huge risk and those who are caught risk dismemberment of their toes, feet, fingers or hands.
Mammy talking to John:
“Why does it matter? Mammy leaned against the wall. She had one hand on the logs, one on her cheek. Tired. “Why do that to these young ones? To Sarny here. If they learn to read -”
“And write.”
“And write, it’s just grief for them. Longtime grief. They find what they don’t have, can’t have. It aint good to know that. It eats at you then – to know it and not have it.”
“They have to be able to write,” John said. Voice pushing. He stood and reached out one hand with long fingers and touched mammy on the forehead. It was almost like he be kissing her with his fingers. Soft. Touch like black cotton in the dark. “They have to read and write. We all have to read and write so we can write about this – what they doing to us. It has to be written.”
Mammy she turned and went back to her mat on the floor. Moving quiet, not looking back. She settled next to the young ones and John he turned to me and he say:
“Next is C.”
A very powerful book, gut-wrenching at times. An awesome testament to the importance of literacy and the great lengths and dangers that many went through to obtain it. One that I will not soon forget. Highly recommended.
Nightjohn is part of my themed reading for the month of February which celebrates Black History Month. Join me this month as I explore books that celebrate the history of African-Americans. Also reviewed this month: Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges and Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson. Other reviews of interest: A Thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg, Yankee Girl by Mary Ann Rodman, Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, and Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis.
Links of interest: An excellent teacher’s guide on using Nightjohn in the classroom and Gary Paulsen’s website. My friend Cari and her sister Holly also have a great discussion about Nightjohn over at Book Scoops. More book blogger reviews.
Genre: Historical Fiction, Young Adult
Publisher: Delecorte Books for Young Readers. January 1, 1993.
Hardcover, 96 pages. ISBN: 0385308388
Nightjohn is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.
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Category: Book Reviews, Fiction, Young Adult
Tags: abuse, African American, Black History Month reads, book to movie, Fiction, historical fiction, literacy, M-P Author, M-P Title, male author, Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers, slavery
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WOW – what a great review. This sounds like a book that I absolutely MUST read, yet I am not sure that I will want to read it.
Thanks for the link as well – I enjoyed their double scoop commentary
on February 5th, 2009 at 7:18 pmI’ve read other books by Paulsen and really enjoyed them. Thanks for pointing me toward this one!
on February 5th, 2009 at 8:02 pmOh how sad!!! Sounds like it even puts Uncle Tom’s Cabin to shame.
No, I didn’t recieve your email for some reason!
on February 5th, 2009 at 9:51 pmI’m sure I would have been cringing and turning my eyes away. I always find slavery hard to take, and though I realize it’s important to read and know about, I always find myself hating those books when I’ve finished. This sounds like a valuable one though, thanks.
on February 6th, 2009 at 3:22 amSounds like a powerful book. Thanks for the excellent review.
on February 6th, 2009 at 5:46 amI’ve read a lot of Paulsen’s books, but I never heard of this one before. Have to check it out!
on February 6th, 2009 at 6:49 amWow, I forgot about Nightjohn. As I was reading your review and looking at the names, I couldn’t believe how familiar it all sounded. And before you really got the gist of the story, it all came flooding back to me. I read it in middle school with the whole class, and it was very short, and it was a very powerful book, too.
I think it’d be worth going back and reading it again after all of this time has passed and I’m much, much older.
on February 6th, 2009 at 8:00 amMolly – It was hard to read, but at least it’s short. You don’t have to endure the difficult passages for long.
Cathy – I’m sure I read some of his books when I was younger but this is the first book I’ve read of his as an adult.
Ladytink_534 – I wanted to read Uncle Tom’s Cabin this month but I’m just not going to be able to swing it. (I resent the email, I’m not sure why you’re not receiving it. It’s not coming back to me. Being caught my spam?)
Meghan – Exactly. This one was particularly graphic.
Beth F. – You’re welcome!
Jeane – I’ve had this one on my shelf forever. Black History Month was the motivation I needed to pick it up.
Nicole Marie – While I was reading it, I couldn’t believe that it was written for kids. I think you have to have a tough kid to get through some of the passages. Particularly when they start cutting off some toes.
on February 6th, 2009 at 9:50 am“if there is a hell for fictional characters”
Hmm…I kind of love this idea. I need to make a Dante-esque chart for where all of my favorite (and not-so-favorite) characters end up.
on February 6th, 2009 at 10:34 amGreat review! It’s on my reading list now. I will link to your review sometime this month though in case I don’t get to it this month.
on February 6th, 2009 at 1:40 pmI’m definitely going to have to add this to my TBR pile. I loved Paulsen as a kid. Hatchet was probably one of my favorite books growing up.
on February 6th, 2009 at 2:05 pmI second your priase for Night John. It’s a wonderful book and one of the few to paint such a true picture of slavery.
There’s no romance in it here.
on February 7th, 2009 at 7:16 amAmazing review Natasha. I’m always interested in these types of books not because I enjoy them so much as I think they are so important to read and stay aware of. Thanks for bringing this one to my attention. I’m going to check if it’s available in Canada.
on February 8th, 2009 at 2:31 pmJessica – I like the idea too!
Tracy – It’s a fast read. Very short and skinny. Won’t take you very long when you do.
Matthew – I read Hatchet when I was younger but have zero recollection of it. I own it though, with the intentions to reread it.
CB James – No romance. You’re right. I thought the whole thing was really horrific.
Darlene – I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it either. I had to look away from it a couple of times. But very powerful, and I’m glad I did.
on February 8th, 2009 at 7:07 pmI didn’t really read your review yet because after seeing yours and Cari’s I know I need to read this one soon. I’ll be back to read your full review later.
on February 9th, 2009 at 12:40 pmOkay Natasha, I thought I had already commented on this review, but apparently I imagined it or last week when we had a virus hit the computer it somehow got lost when Firefox wasn’t working.
Anyway I agree Waller is pure evil, just reading about him makes me want to crawl away & hide.I hope I never meet someone like him. The quote you used is one of my favorites – reading, writing and communicating is so important to having voice. I admire people who risk their lives to teach others and thanks for the link to our review.
on February 10th, 2009 at 2:41 pmYikes! I’ve read several Paulsen books, but I haven’t come across this one yet. Looks like a good short one to add to the “read-with-my-daughter list”
on February 10th, 2009 at 10:57 pmI love Gary Paulsen but I hadn’t heard of this one. I definitely want to read it after reading your review – great job!
on February 16th, 2009 at 7:07 amhi
on May 4th, 2009 at 2:42 pmhihihihihi
on May 4th, 2009 at 2:44 pmbye
on May 4th, 2009 at 2:44 pmwe are reading and doing a project about this book in language arts and i think its a really interesting book, so it must be good b/c i don’t like reading at all. I personally think this blog needs to put up like a little summary of each chapter. also what i like about it is that it’s short :]
on May 14th, 2009 at 6:47 pmwe are doing a project where you have to make a wanted sign that mr. waller would have made if nightjohn runs away.
Love the book kind of sad though.
on May 27th, 2009 at 4:35 pm[...] Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen [...]
on December 30th, 2009 at 9:30 pm