Nightjohn

A quick read, narrated with the realistic voice of an illiterate slave (something that took me a while to adapt to). While it is very easy to read as far as reading level goes, it was one of the most difficult books I have read. My reactions included dizziness, vomiting, and crying, but again, I'm highly sensitive to graphic violence. I wish this book had a disclaimer and I really wouldn't have read it if that had been the case.

This experience was equivalent to watching "Roots". What I mean by "really liked it" in my rating is actually "I think the content is important to know and the book is effective in portraying the horrors of slavery." However, I did not in ANY WAY like it.

Nightjohn tells the story of a young slave girl who desires to learn to read and the male slave willing to risk life and limb to teach other slaves to read.
I enjoyed this book, though it was short and moved extremely quickly. Despite this quick pace, it was able to build suspense, while also conveying the importance and value of being able to read. The book can be graphic at times, but never to the point of excess, and never to a point of being unrealistic from a historical standpoint. Nightjohn forces readers to consider just how much they would value the ability to read if they were forced into a situation where that skill was not allowed.

I enjoyed this book mainly because I'm a big Gary Paulsen fan, but I loved how Paulsen developed his character Nightjohn. With this truly inspiring story, Paulsen explains how NIghtjohn escaped slavery but twiceand came back to risk everything for the sole purpose of teaching others. I also felt that the message of this book is extremely relevant to anyone with an appreciation for academics and their importance in life. Knowledge is power, and it can never be taken away from you; Paulsen explains that no matter what happens to you physically or emotionally, you will always have what you know to lean on for the rest of your days.

I really loved the writing style of this book. I could tell that the author wanted it to sound like a slave had written it. There were a lot of sentence fragments and grammatical errors that would be typical of someone with no education, like the main character Sarney. For example, “Come a hard time. Come a awful, hard time,” and “But they’s some of them to cry,” show that the narrator does not have an understanding of sentence structure and grammar rules (p. 42 and 55). I also loved how descriptive the language was. When the narrator described the breathing of the slave owner, she said, “Breath cut in, cut out like a saw cutting wood,” (p. 64). I had never thought of someone’s breathing as a saw before, but I could show more clearly imagine what harsh and angry breaths he was taking. At times, I felt the book was disturbing because of the treatment of the slaves, but I gained a better understanding of the hardships and maltreatment of African Americans. The purpose of this book was to describe the attitudes of white slave owners on the education of African Americans. The powerful book shows the lengths a slave would go to learn and teach other how to read and write. show less

1. This story is about a young girl growing up as a slave. A man gets purchased by her owner who then starts teaching her to read. He teaches her a few letters then runs away in the middle of the night. Later, he comes back to get Sarny and brings her to a little area with a few other slave children and he continues to teach them all to read.
2. I really liked the way this story showed slavery from a child's point of view. I would use it in my teaching to broaden children's understanding of slavery, our country's history, and the importance of equality.
3. I think this story would be a great supplement to a unit/theme on slavery or equality and injustice. I believe the age range for this book would be between 8-10 years old. Give or take show more due to developmental level. show less

A gripping tale of the struggles of education in the days of slavery. Gary Paulsen writes the most powerful he's written to date, at times you literally cringe in your seat or gasp and say, "Oh my god." How the story is written gives you perspective into the life of a slave and the horrific tragedies that were endured everyday. The main idea of this story is that no matter how 'wrong' something is in public law/societal rule that does not make it right. In the face of devil and torment doing what is right makes who you are as a person. When you know deep down that something isn't right, rising up and doing something about it will make the difference for generations to come. If it weren't for NightJohn the words of slaves might never show more have been read or spoken to truly experience the horrors of what was slavery. show less

Night John was a very engaging , enlightening book to experience. This book is about a slave girl, Sarney, who meets a new slave on her plantation named John. John promises to teach Sarney how to write and read if she gives him some tobacco. John starts to teach Sarney how to read and write, but is eventually caught by their mean, cruel master. He physically punishes Sarney and John, humiliating them. I will start by saying that I loved this book. It was engaging and kept the readers attention because of how much suspense the forbidden teaching is giving the reader. The reader is always frightful for Sarney and John because you hear very bad stories about what happens when slaves misbehave.This book was a very hard read at times because show more it was very physically graphic. There was a story told about how a girl was beat and whipped in front of everyone after running away because she was forcefully raped. The author goes on to describe that the cuts were so bad that maggots laid their eggs in her skin. Once John and Sarney are caught by their master, John's punishment is that he gets two toes cut off in front of all the slaves. While I did love this book, it was very hard to read these passages without feeling disgusted. However, it does portray the truth of slavery and how awful and inhumane it was. The book's main idea was to show how awful racism was, but also to show that in the face of adversity people can do courageous and brave actions. John continued to teach children even after he was beaten and mutilated and that was beyond selfless and courageous of him. show less