© 1876 Mark Twain
202 pages
There is truly no better time to
revisit The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
than the summer, with its long, languid days bringing back memories of
childhood liberty from school, and the mischievous episodes used to fill them.
Tom Sawyer is the history of a
boy, told by an aging boy – Mark Twain – whose own fond recollections of
boyhood are obvious. Tom is the quintessential
boy; wild, clever, with a head full of adventures. The
importance of memorizing Bible verses
may be lost on him, as is the value of whitewashing a fence – but he is not
dull or lazy. How could he be when he spends days hard at work digging for
treasure, or playing out The Tale of
Robin Hood with his friends, delivering dialogue word-for-word from the
book by memory? Tom may struggle at
being civilized, but he has his own
values to live up to. For all his youthful mischief, Tom is hard at play,
practicing to be a man; he yearns to be the adventurous pirate, the gallant
knight winning the favor of his lady love. In Tom’s case, such practice is
fruitful, for his pursuit of pretend adventure will lead him headlong into
actual danger when he and his friend Huck
witness a murder. In the months that follow, Tom must live up to the
nobility he practiced to truly rescue damsels in distress, to truly defeat a dastardly
villain, and win the prize for all his derring-do – genuine pirate
treasure! Could there be a better book
for boys?
This is certainly a great book for boys and I still remember enjoying it when I was one.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest that a short list of great boys' books would have to also include Treasure Island and Kidnapped by Stevenson and The Jungle Books by Kipling.