Nightjohn is a young adult novel by Gary Paulsen

Gary Paulsen

Gary James Paulsen is an American writer who writes many young adult coming of age stories about the wilderness. He is the author of more than 200 books , 200 magazine articles and short stories, and several plays, all primarily for young adults and teens.-Biography:Gary Paulsen was born in...

, first published in 1993. It is about slavery in the American South shortly before the time of the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. It was later made into a movie of the same name.
The novel is set on a plantation

Plantation

A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...

 in the Southern United States

Southern United States

The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...

 in the 1850s. The narrator and protagonist of the story is a young African-American slave named Sarny, who is taught to read and write by another slave, Nightjohn, also known as John.