Kernel's Library: Lo! The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Book 00065: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain

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Title:
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

First Publication:
- 1876 by Chatto and Windus

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Trivia:
- The story of Tom Sawyer has been filmed or animated multiple times since its initial publication.
- In dictations for his autobiography, Twain claimed Tom Sawyer "must have been" the first book whose manuscript was typed on a typewriter. However, typewriter historian Darryl Rehr has concluded that Twain's first typed manuscript was Life on the Mississippi.
- The sales of Tom Sawyer were lukewarm at first. It initially sold less than a third as many copies as Twain's Innocents Abroad. By the time of Mark Twain's death, however, Tom Sawyer was both an American classic and a bestseller. It is arguably the work for which Twain is best known today.

Award / Honor as an Author:
- Doctorate of Literature (Oxford University, Honorary)

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This prankster boy is the jolliest, the liveliest and most of all the most adventurous. I can't stop sniggering on the (mis)adventures that he has undergone with along with his best buddy, Huck. I only pity the sorrow Aunt Polly experienced at times when Tom Sawyer do his pranks and jokes. You would at times hate him, love him and most of the times join him in his reckless undertakings. Take a copy of his adventures and laugh out loud on the sure funny story Tom Sawyer has to offer.

The Plot Summary

Tom Sawyer, a mischievous orphan taken in by his Aunt Polly, goes through a series of adventures involving his friends, Joe Harper and Huckleberry Finn. Tom is a mischievous mastermind, and a professional trickster.

He escapes punishment many times by his tricks and charms. Though he is often foolish and unpredictable, he also is somewhat smart and has a good sense of humor. When not trying to win his sweetheart, Becky Thatcher, Tom is either getting into mischief or going on an adventure. Many times, Tom suddenly changes from his grinning self into a fearsome pirate or anything else he can think of.

His laugh changes into a bloodcurdling yell or a barking captain's voice. Tom Sawyer's main doings are racing bugs, impressing girls with fights and stunts in the schoolyard, getting lost in a cave, and playing pirates on the Mississippi River. The best known passage in the book describes how Sawyer persuades his friends to whitewash, or paint a long fence for him. The Adventure in the cave with Becky Thatcher is also described very well.

Grade: A