Sarny: A Life Remembered

Summary: The Civil War is over, and Sarny has been released from the shackles of slavery. She's free, but what does that mean? This sequel to Gary Paulsen's acclaimed novel, Nightjohn, follows Sarny as she searches for her children after the war. Hope comes from surprising places, and soon Sarny finds herself in New Orleans, working, teaching, and building her life anew. Though the war is over, hatred and danger lurk around every corner, threatening her efforts to teach others to read. In Sarny, Paulsen creates a character that sparkles with heart and courage. His descriptions of her first days of freedom--her first lavender-scented bath, the sweet taste of canned peaches on bread, this novel tells the remarkable story of a former slave's amazing journey.

This book has such good word choice, with perfect dialog and descriptive words that really paint a picture in your head. But beware that this book is very depressing, and not for the faint of heart. I think there was too much unnecessary suffering, you can have your character suffer, but do you have to have her suffer every five pages! I loved all the characters, so it's just so hard to see them suffer. This book was really good, with the perfect style for this time period. Not the best book ever, but a very good read.

3.5/5

Nightjohn

In Gary Paulsen's short chapter book following Sarnie, a slave on a Southern Plantation who from the help of the mysterious "Nightjohn" learns to write a few letters, she starts to use them and since she was a slave she wasn't supposed to that gets Nightjohn in a lot of trouble. She thinks this her last time using letters. But Nightjohn helps her and changes her life and the lives of other slaves forever through the power of letters.

This book was more serious then I expected it to be, really it was quit violent and scary. I think this book really captures that time period and how it was like to be a slave. They write lots of books about adult slaves, but this book is one of the few about a child slave. I think the word choice was really good, though I thought it should have been longer because it's hard to really "get to know" the characters in a 90 page book. I also wanted to know more about the slave's daily life because it didn't explain their daily life too much. It's always easier to find good qualities in books then the bad but I think it way a pretty good book for 90 pages. A great book on the time period.

P.S.: If you want more info on her life read:

Sarnie: A Life Remembered, the sequel.

3/5