''Nightjohn'' is a 1993 historical fiction novel by American author

Gary Paulsen Gary James Paulsen (May 17, 1939 – October 13, 2021) was an American writer of children's and young adult fiction, best known for coming of age, coming-of-age stories about the wilderness. He was the author of more than 200 books and wrote mor ...

. It is about Southern American slavery shortly before the time of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. In 1996, it was later made into a movie of the same name.

Plot summary

The novel is set on a

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

owned by a man named Waller in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

in the early 1850s. The narrator and protagonist of the story is a young female African-American slave named Sarny. Sarny first sees Nightjohn when he is brought to the plantation with a rope around his neck, his body covered in scars. He had escaped to the North for freedom, but knowing that the penalty for reading is dismemberment, John still returned to slavery to teach others how to read. Twelve-year-old Sarny is willing to learn. So, at night and whenever he has the chance, John begins teaching Sarny the letters of the

English alphabet Modern English is written with a Latin-script alphabet consisting of 26 Letter (alphabet), letters, with each having both uppercase and lowercase forms. The word ''alphabet'' is a Compound (linguistics), compound of ''alpha'' and ''beta'', t ...

. However even while John teaches Sarny 8 letters (A to H), Walter, their cruel owner, catches her writing in the dirt and punishes John for teaching her by cutting off the toes from each of his feet. But then after three days of recuperating, John runs and makes it to freedom. He later returns to fetch Sarny and take her to "pit school" in the night, where she sees and learns what a catalog is, learns the rest of the letters, and has acquired great knowledge- something no one can take away from her. Since John comes at night, he is called Nightjohn. This book was followed by a sequel called '' Sarny, a Life Remembered'' in 1997

Film adaptation

The novel was adapted as a TV film which aired on the

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

starring Carl Lumbly as John,

Beau Bridges Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III (born December 9, 1941) is an American actor. He is a three-time Emmy Award, Emmy, two-time Golden Globe Award, Golden Globe and one-time Grammy Award winner, as well as a two-time Screen Actors Guild Award nomine ...

as the slaveholder, and introducing Allison Jones as Sarny. It was directed by Charles Burnett.

References

1993 American novels Novels by Gary Paulsen American young adult novels American historical novels Children's historical novels Novels about American slavery Novels set in the 1850s Literacy American novels adapted into films Works about reading Children's books set in the United States Children's books set in the 1850s {{1990s-ya-novel-stub