She was writing in the dirt. What does Night John promise Sarny? To teach her to read and write more.

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 alphabet. After teaching her 8 letters (A to H), Waller catches Sarny writing in the dirt and punishes John for teaching her by cutting off the toes from each of his feet.

What did NightJohn do the first night on the plantation? What does this tell you about him? NightJohn on the first night was starting to teach Sarny on how some of English works. This tell you that he is not Unintelligent.

Sarny is the narrator of the story. She is twelve at the time Nightjohn is bought by Waller; she knows this by the notches on a stick Mammy keeps for all the children.

Nightjohn is a story that is set in the south during the time of slavery. Based on an actual incident, Gary Paulsen tells about a young slave girl, Sarny, who it taught to read by another slave, Nightjohn. The book is very well written, complete with dialect that makes the book even more interesting to read.

Sarny first sees Nightjohn when he is brought to the plantation with a rope around his neck, his body covered with scars from many beatings. Sarny is drawn to Nightjohn when she learns that he had escaped North to freedom, only to voluntarily return to the South.

_____1. How does the master of the house know that Nightjohn is rebellious before he even buys him? Nightjohn tells the master upfront.

How did Sarny kill the bugs on the Rose bushes? She squished them. She used bug spray.

How does Sarny know she is 12 years old? She uses a stick with notches cut into it to see her age.

Who has raised Sarny? ~Sarny’s mother was sold by Waller to another slave owner, after that, Sarny was raised by Old Delie, who is the only mother she knows/remembers. 7.

“Nightjohn wants to trade letters for tobacco.” He offers to teach her some letters as trade for the tobacco.”

How much money did Clel Waller pay when he bought Nightjohn? What does this tell you about NightJohn? He payed $1000 dollars for NightJohn. That shows NightJohn is a talented slave.

Clel Waller is the “master” on the plantation. He is a cruel, sadistic man who treats his slaves like animals, breeding them like livestock, working them to the point of exhaustion, and feeding them from a trough, adults and children alike.

Literacy has enormous consequences for a slave (Carl Lumbly) and his young student in the pre-Civil War South.