Description

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is Mark Twain's classic depiction of a happy-go-lucky boy on a voyage of growth and discovery. Set in pre-Civil war Missouri, this novel is the story of Tom and his best friend Huck Finn, whose playfulness and sense of mischief lead them to all sorts of adventure—some of which is far from the stuff of childhood. Indeed, in the midst of fun and games one night, Tom and Huck witness a brutal murder. The two boys flee the scene, afraid for their lives, and hide out on an island on the Mississippi River. Guilt over their worried families forces the two boys to return home. But the murderer remains at large, and an innocent man stands accused of the crime. The worlds of carefree childhood and adult consequences collide as Tom must decide whether to reveal the truth, potentially costing him his own safety, or allow an innocent man to suffer.

About the Author

Born Samuel Clemens, Mark Twain (1835-1910) was and is an American legend. A prolific journalist, essayist, and writer of short stories and novels, Twain had a unique gift for capturing and often laughing at the young American nation he knew. Growing up in Missouri, Twain spent his early years on the Mississippi River, which would figure prominently in the world of his later fiction. Twain worked as a riverboat pilot as a young man, but headed west when the Civil War broke out. His trip across the country and eventual years in Nevada and California became fodder for some of Twain's best works. Settling eventually in Connecticut, Twain enjoyed many fruitful years of writing, travel, and family life until he left the world, as he had vowed, with the return of Halley's Comet in 1910. Perhaps best known for his novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huck Finn, Twain is the author of many other works, including Life on the Mississippi, Letters From the Earth, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and Innocents Abroad.

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Opening Lines (Experimental)

MOST of the adventures recorded in this book really occurred; one or two were experiences of my own, the rest those of boys who were schoolmates of mine. Huck Finn is drawn from life; Tom Sawyer also, but not from an individual--he is a combination of the characteristics of three boys whom I knew, ...