This is Mark Twain's first novel about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, and it has become one of the world's best-loved books. It is a fond reminiscence of life in Hannibal, Missouri, an evocation of Mark Twain's own boyhood along the banks of the Mississippi during the 1840s. "Most of the adventures recorded in this book really occurred," he tells us. The Mark Twain Library edition contains the only text since the first edition (1876) to be based directly on the author's manuscript and to include all of the "200 rattling pictures' Mark Twain commissioned from one of his favorite illustrators, True W. Williams. This landmark anniversary edition contains a selection of original documents by Mark Twain, including several letters in his inimitable voice about writing Tom Sawyer and about its original publication.

The orphan Tom Sawyer, raised by his aunt, is never out of trouble for long. A mischievous, charming boy (not to mention genius at escaping from trouble), Tom's adventures involve many unwitting bystanders. From one moment to the next, the boy could change into a pirate, or ship's captain - when he's not trying to win Becky Thatcher for a sweetheart, of course. Tom is also a friend of Twain's other beloved boy-hero, Huckleberry Finn.

The book that introduced the world to the iconic American characters of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, this 1876 novel by Mark Twain follows the mischievous exploits of the two young boys, who find themselves in situations both humorous and dangerous. Never short of ways to stir up trouble in his hometown on the Mississippi River, Tom uses his wits to get both in and out of tight spots, often with Huck at his side. Featuring moments of significant social commentary, these interconnected tales essentially served as a dry run for Twain's notably weightier sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

This landmark anniversary edition contains a selection of Twain's hard-to-find letters and notes expressing his always-engaging opinions on the publication of Tom Sawyer.

(Illustrated Edition - Original Illustration) Tom Sawyer is a troublemaker. After Tom gets in trouble, he is ordered by Aunt Polly, with whom he lives, to whitewash their fence. When his friends see him painting the fence, Tom pretends that he loves the chore to make his friends jealous. They beg him to let them help. This is a prime example of the type of trouble Tom Sawyer is always getting up to. Part of the novel is devoted to Tom's romance with Becky Thatcher, a new girl in town. They like each other, but Becky is hurt when she finds out that Tom liked someone else before her. Eventually, he takes the blame for a book she ruined, making her like him again. Tom is always getting into trouble, usually with his friend, Huckleberry Finn. Together they sneak out to a graveyard at night, where they witness Injun Joe murder Dr. Robinson. Tom, Huck, and their friend, Joe Harper, run away for a little while, making the town think they are dead. Eventually they come back, though, and Tom testifies against Injun Joe in court. ~ Evergreen Book Club

Perhaps the most popular of all canonical American authors, Mark Twain is famous for creating works that satirize American formations of race and empire. While many scholars have explored Twain’s work in African Americanist contexts, his writing on Asia and Asian Americans remains largely in the shadows. In Sitting in Darkness, Hsuan Hsu examines Twain’s career-long archive of writings about United States relations with China and the Philippines. Comparing Twain’s early writings about Chinese immigrants in California and Nevada with his later fictions of slavery and anti-imperialist essays, he demonstrates that Twain’s ideas about race were not limited to white and black, but profoundly comparative as he carefully crafted assessments of racialization that drew connections between groups, including African Americans, Chinese immigrants, and a range of colonial populations. Drawing on recent legal scholarship, comparative ethnic studies, and transnational and American studies, Sitting in Darkness engages Twain’s best-known novels such as Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, as well as his lesser-known Chinese and trans-Pacific inflected writings, such as the allegorical tale “A Fable of the Yellow Terror” and the yellow face play Ah Sin. Sitting in Darkness reveals how within intersectional contexts of Chinese Exclusion and Jim Crow, these writings registered fluctuating connections between immigration policy, imperialist ventures, and racism.

This Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Edition? includes a glossary and reader?s notes to help the modern reader contend with Twain?s themes and Tom?s journey into adolescence.Originally published in 1876, Mark Twain?s Adventures of Tom Sawyer is based upon the author?s own childhood experiences living in Hannibal, Missouri. For over a century, readers have delighted in the imaginative adventures and superstitious practices of the young characters. Episodes like the whitewashing of the fence and Tom and Becky?s adventure in the cave have become ingrained in popular culture, making the novel one of the most famous works of American literature.