"To know things, for us to know things, is bad for them. We get to wanting and when we get to wanting it's bad for them. They thinks we want what they got . . . . That's why they don't want us reading." -- Nightjohn "I didn't know what letters was, not what they meant, but I...
In this "searing picture of slavery" ("Kirkus Reviews"),12-year-old slave Sarny risks terrible punishment as Nightjohn, an adult slave, teaches her how to read. An inspirational story, meticulously researched, and historically accurate.