Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen and Sarny by Gary Paulsen

Nominated by Ashley.

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 retumed to slavery to teach others how to read. And twelve-year-old Sarny is willing to take the risk to learn.

Set in the 1850s, Gary Paulsen's groundbreaking new novel is unlike anything else the award-winning author has written. It is a meticulously researched, historically accurate, and artistically crafted portrayal of a grim time in our nation's past, brought to light through the personal history of two unforgettable characters.

Description by Goodreads.com

Note: these are 2 separate books, the first is 96 pages and the second 192, so we decided to do them together. The events in NightJohn led readers to ask the author "What happened to Sarny?" so he wrote the second book about 4 years later.