Lovable heroes and heroines abound in children’s literature, but let’s be honest: many of them have blind spots, and they rarely act alone. More often than not, there’s a dry wit beneath their wings, and it typically belongs to an endearing sidekick who makes up for reduced beauty and grace with humor and hard work. […]
Paperback(Reprint)
-
SHIP THIS ITEMTemporarily Out of Stock Online
-
PICK UP IN STORECheck Availability at Nearby Stores
Available within 2 business hours
Related collections and offers
Overview
'Most of the adventures recorded in this book really occurred; one or two were experiences of my own, the rest of those boys who were schoolmates of mine', Mark Twain wrote in the preface to the original 1876 edition. Inspired by his upbringing in a small township on the Mississippi, and written 'to remind adults of what they once were themselves, and of how they felt and thought and talked, and what queer enterprises they sometimes engaged in', Twain's hymn to childhood and the great outdoors remains a classic account of boys on the loose in frontier-era America.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780425289037 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Penguin Young Readers Group |
Publication date: | 06/06/2017 |
Series: | Puffin + Pantone |
Edition description: | Reprint |
Pages: | 352 |
Product dimensions: | 5.10(w) x 7.00(h) x 1.10(d) |
Age Range: | 8 - 12 Years |
About the Author
Mark Twain is the pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910). He was born in Missouri, USA. He travelled around America, seeking fame and fortune before becoming a successful journalist and travel writer. In 1876 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, inspired by his own childhood, was published, followed eight years later by The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Date of Birth:
November 30, 1835Date of Death:
April 21, 1910Place of Birth:
Florida, MissouriPlace of Death:
Redding, ConnecticutRead an Excerpt
Chapter 1
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Mark Twain.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Young Readers Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
ContentsIntroduction
- Tom Plays, Fights, and Hides
- The Glorious Whitewasher
- Busy at War and Love
- Showing Off in Sunday School
- The Pinch Bug and His Prey
- Tom Meets Becky
- Tick-Running and a Heartbreak
- A Pirate Bold to Be
- Tragedy in the Graveyard
- Dire Prophecy of the Howling Dog
- Conscience Racks Tom
- The Cat and the Painkiller
- The Pirate Crew Set Sail
- Happy Camp of the Freebooters
- Tom's Stealthy Visit Home
- First Pipes "I've Lost My Knife"
- Pirates at Their Own Funeral
- Tom Reveals His Dream Secret
- The Cruelty of "I Didn't Think"
- Tom Takes Becky's Punishment
- Eloquence and the Master's Gilded Dome
- Huck Finn Quotes Scripture
- The Salvation of Muff Potter
- Splendid Days and Fearsome Nights
- Seeking the Buried Treasure
- Real Robbers Seize the Box of Gold
- Trembling on the Trail
- In the Lair of Injun Joe
- Huck Saves the Widow
- Tom and Becky in the Cave
- Found and Lost Again
- "Turn Out! They're Found!"
- The Fate of Injun Joe
- Floods of Gold
- Respectable Huck Joins the Gang
Literary Allusions and Notes
Critical Excerpts
Mark Twain on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Suggestions for Further Reading
What People are Saying About This
"Twain had a greater effect than any other writer on the evolution of American prose."
Reading Group Guide
1. In his preface, Mark Twain remarks that "Although my book is intended mainly for the entertainment of boys and girls, I hope it will not be shunned by men and women on that account, for part of my plan has been to try to pleasantly remind adults of what they once were themselves. . . ." Do you think Twain succeeds in this "plan"? Discuss the ways in which Tom Sawyer can be read by both children and adults-do different aspects of the book appeal to different kinds of readers? Are different episodes designed, as some critics have suggested, to appeal to different audiences?
2. How does Tom Sawyer relate to the world of adult authority and responsibility? Can he be said to "mature" during the course of the novel, as critics have asserted? If so in what ways?
3. Discuss the town of St. Petersburg, Mississippi, Tom Sawyer's home. How would you describe it? What literary devices or descriptions, to your mind, make Twain's portrayal of rural American life in the years before the Civil War interesting, unique, appealing?
4. Virginia Wexman notes that in Tom Sawyer "we are confronted with two clearly separate worlds. The first world is a light and engaging one . . . where life is played at . . . the world of Tom himself. . . . But there is another world here too, a darker world where actions have real meaning and real moral consequences-the world of people like Injun Joe and Muff Potter." Discuss each of these "two worlds, " and the ways in which they are related to each other in the novel.
5. Discuss Tom's relationship with Huckleberry Finn, from their first encounter, through their subsequentadventures. What do you make of this friendship? Why are these characters drawn to each other? Compare this relationship with other relationships in the novel, for instance Tom's relationship to Becky Thatcher.
6. Discuss Twain's use of particular geographical settings as scenes for episodes in the novel: the river, the island, the cave. Why do you think these particular landscapes are chosen? How do they inform the action of the novel?
7. Tom Sawyer is one of the most recognizable and revered characters in American literature; as Lyall Powers writes, "Everybody knows Tom's story whether he has actually read the book or not." What do you think accounts for the enduring popularity of Twain's literary creation?