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Part of [Mark Twain Selected Works] ( )

I haven't read this in many decades, so I was delighted with how well the book has held up. (Yes, there were a few things that smacked of racism, but not as much or as bad as I had feared. I refuse to cancel Mark Twain because he never seems to be mean-spirited in his casual racism and he's a good writer.) I did not remember all of Tom's many adventures, but I can imagine his story inspiring many a young child to hunt for treasure or play at being pirates. I smiled throughout the reading in thinking about how free children once were to roam and play and use their imaginations. ( )

An excellent novel of a boy's adventures in ante-bellum Missouri. I read this as a child and took it seriously. Now that I'm an adult, I notice how much of it is humorous. Some of it, like the death of Injun Joe, is grim however you take it. Necessary reading to get the most out of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". Tom's bookish imagination, and determination to translate it into reality, makes him a very sympathetic character.

I think it's usual for many readers not to realize that what Twain is writing is an historical novel depicting a time, the 1840s, that was 35 years gone by the time he wrote. ( )

AR: 8.1