The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

1817

the adventures of tom sawyer
mark twain
1835-1910
19th century
historical
fiction
classic
american
novel
children

The story

Mark Twain created the memorable characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn drawing from the experiences of boys he grew up with in Missouri. Set by the Mississippi River in the 1840's, it follows these boys as they get into predicament after predicament. Tom's classic whitewashing of the fence has become part of American legend, and the book paints a nostalgic picture of life in the middle of the nineteenth century. Tom runs away from home to an island in the river, chases Injun Joe and his treasure, and even gets trapped in a cave for days with Becky Thatcher. The book is one of Twain's most beloved stories.

What it’s like

Sunlit summer afternoons in a small Missouri town, with the Mississippi glinting just beyond the hot dusty streets, and a prose voice that is wry, unhurried and full of warm comic detail: whitewashed fences, sticky sweets, the drone of a Sunday sermon, the slow drift of a raft on a river. The mood is nostalgic and playful, with a thread of genuine menace running underneath, the kind that sits in the dark of a cave or the shadow of a murderer lurking in town. It suits a lazy summer reading session, a rainy afternoon on the sofa, or a read-aloud with someone younger. Episodic and easy to dip into, its chapters move in bright, self-contained bursts of mischief, with the boys' scrapes and schemes building toward moments of real fear and relief. Violence is mostly comic or offstage, though there are a few tense scenes of danger, a courtroom peril and a cave ordeal, and a brief murder that is frightening rather than gory. Racial language and attitudes of its period appear throughout and may need context. It is for readers who love classic American storytelling, sly humour, and a childhood world rendered with affection.

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