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Synopsis
This historically accurate, frequently violent novel tells the story of 12-year-old Sarny, a female slave at the Waller plantation. Sarny first sees Nightjohn when he is brought there with a rope around his neck, his body covered in scars. He had escaped to freedom but has returned to teach reading -- even though he knows that the penalty for reading is dismemberment. And Sarny is willing to take the risk to learn.
Publishers Weekly
Among the most powerful of Paulsen's works ( Hatchet ; The Winter Room ; Dogsong ), this impeccably researched novel sheds light on cruel truths in American history as it traces the experiences of a 12-year-old slave girl in the 1850s. Narrator Sarny exposes the abuse (routine beatings, bondage, dog attacks, forced "breeding'') suffered by her people on the Waller plantation. The punishment for learning to read and write, she knows, is a bloody one, but when new slave Nightjohn offers to teach her the alphabet, Sarny readily agrees. Her decision causes pain for others as well as for herself, yet, inspired by the bravery of Nightjohn, who has given up a chance for freedom in order to educate slaves, Sarny continues her studies. Convincingly written in dialect, this graphic depiction of slavery evokes shame for this country's forefathers and sorrow for the victims of their inhumanity. Ages 12-up. (Feb.)