Sarny by Gary Paulsen

Read For: Student teaching
Rating: 4

Sarny is the sequel to Nightjohn. Again, Paulsen demonstrates his talent at writing a novel that is different from anything of the other books that he has written. Sarny is longer than Nightjohn and follows the path of Sarny (obviously) who is now an adult and able to read. When her children are taken away from her and sent to be slaves on another plantation, Sarny is determined to go after them. When the South is liberated, the plantation that Sarny lives on is liberated as well, and Sarny sees her chance to go after her children.

Paulsen writes many loveable characters in this book. Sarny is sweet and determined, Lucy is fun and thoughtful, Miss Laura is smart and elegant, and Bartlett is strong and stoic. They all work together to create a powerful commentary on Southern society at the time right after the Civil War.

One theme that I want to be sure to discuss with my students is the role of women. Miss Laura is a powerful woman in the South, and she takes Sarny under her wing and shows her how a woman can manipulate a man in order to get what she wants. There is a twist in the Miss Laura story, too, that I will be anxious to see what my students think of it.