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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

by Mark Twain, Frank Conroy (Introduction)

3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 · rating details · 235,306 ratings · 3,318 reviews

Introduction by Frank Conroy
Commentary by William Dean Howells, Athenaeum, The Illustrated London News, and Hartford Christian Secretary

This irresistible tale of the adventures of two friends growing up in frontier America is one of Mark Twain’s most popular novels. The farcical, colorful, and poignant escapades of Tom and his friend Huckleberry Finn brilliantly depict t...more

Paperback, 271 pages

Published March 13th 2001 by Modern Library (first published January 1st 1882)

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Mar 28, 2010 Doug rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My all-time favorite work of fiction. I usually read this every summer.

As a fourth grader I read this book and took it very seriously. It was my dream to build a raft and go adventuring. Actually I did build the raft, but there was not enough water in the creek.

My other great ambition was to come marching into my own funeral. I still think that would be fun.

When I read about Tom taking a licking for Becky Thatcher in school and sharing his cake with her in the cave, I thought that was incredibl...more

24 likes · like · see review

Jun 22, 2012 Maria rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Tom Sawyer!
Oh, como eu gostava de ver os desenhos animados do Tom Sawyer. Aventuras, maluqueiras!

Quando os via nem tinha noção da existência do livro e de que os desenhos eram uma adaptação.
É o segundo livro que leio por causa de desenhos animados. O primeiro foi A Ilha do Tesouro, que é um dos meus livros favoritos.

"As Aventuras de Tom Sawyer" é, como diz o título, um livro que fala das aventuras deste rapaz.
Tom anda sempre metido em sarilhos e traquinices. Tem vários amigos, mas Huckleberr...more

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Sep 17, 2007 Nathan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of the Great American Con.

Shelves: fiction

There's not much that can be said about this book by a hack like me that would do it justice. Mark Twain was the first American writer to figure out how to turn the American vernacular into art, and he was the first historian to document how we talked. He also was a visionary who saw the problems of race and the problem racism would be in the future, and he tried to warn the future the only way he knew how: by writing about it then. He was gutsy and he was talented and he was hilarious, and this...more

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Aug 14, 2012 Peter rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read Huckleberry Finn first and I think that is an infinitely superior book. I think what makes that book so much better is - it has a strong overarching story and a very strong narrator in Huck, whose childlike 'simple' view Twain uses to question the status quo of the world around him. The only part of Huckleberry Finn that I really disliked was Tom Sawyer's appearance at the end - so that didn't bode well for this, but I thought I would give it a go anyway.

#SPOILERS#

In this book Huck is not...more

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Dec 11, 2007 Yena Lee rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone

When I was young I had read this book once. I read this book again recently and thought differently from the last time. The cover of book was interesting which was showing Tom Sawyer’s wit.(I couldn’t find the book in Good Reads) He gave his work to friends by using the wit and instead, he ate friend’s apple. As the title of the book says, ‘The adventure of Tom Sawyer’ is about the boy named Tom Sawyer’s adventure. Not only had that Tom Sawyer practiced and dreamed his own dreams with his faithf...more

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Jul 09, 2007 Jason Pettus rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classic, funny, victorian

I'm admittedly a fan of many of Mark Twain's works; so which to write up here at my social network? So I picked this one, because of me growing up three hours' south of Hannibal, Missouri, Twain's actual childhood hometown, which he paints a vivd picture of in this particular book, and which I visited numerous times as a child. And wow, where do you even begin with how great a writer Mark Twain was? Dark yet mainstream, bitter yet sunny, with a prose style that unbelievably still holds up well 1...more

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Nov 21, 2008 Leslie marked it as to-read · review of another edition

I am currently reading this to my boys. I am not enjoying it at all. I think my 8 year old likes it though. I was really expecting to be more excited about this one. =( I wish I could get it to it.

Okay, maybe I am a weak reader, but I decided to read an abridged version instead to my boys. It still has the fun stories but it is missing all the wonderful wisdom and insight that Mark Twain writes in the original. Maybe someday I will pick up the original again. I suppose my family just isn't ready...more

3 likes · like · see review

Mar 28, 2008 eliza rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Little-known fact: I played an extra in the musical and got to choose my own name. I picked "Tony" but was told I had to change it because "the Italians hadn't arrived yet." So I changed it to "Anthony" and they accepted that. I guess what they meant is that the Italians hadn't started using nick-names yet.

6 likes · like · see review

Mar 28, 2009 Winnie is currently reading it · review of another edition

funny,but boring too.

5 likes · like · see review

Jul 02, 2008 Madi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

its good, but harder 2 read than i thought, am reading 4 school

3 likes · like · see review

Dec 25, 2012 Sabrina Van Goethem marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: i-own-this-book, childrens

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. First and foremost, this book is about the adventures of a young boy during a period of about 6 months of his life. He's just like other young boys his age: school is boring, he doesn't want to do his lessons, he doesn't always listen to what his aunt tells him, he just wants to be able to go swimming or playing whenever he feels like it. Naturally, he also gets into some adventures, eg. the adventure in the cave and the one when he goes off pirating and disappears for a few days. As with any yo...more

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Dec 28, 2012 K.D. Oliveros rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, childrens, race, coming-of-age

This coming of age novel is an important American classic because:

1) It is the precursor for the bigger and more important Mark Twain novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

2) It is a historical fiction giving readers a glimpse of the laid back town's life in the mid to late 19th century. The town is called St. Petersburg that is based on Hannibal, Missouri, the hometown of Mark Twain. This book is basically a satire of the customs and superstitions that Americans practiced and believed durin

...more This coming of age novel is an important American classic because:

1) It is the precursor for the bigger and more important Mark Twain novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

2) It is a historical fiction giving readers a glimpse of the laid back town's life in the mid to late 19th century. The town is called St. Petersburg that is based on Hannibal, Missouri, the hometown of Mark Twain. This book is basically a satire of the customs and superstitions that Americans practiced and believed during that time. Reading this is like watching an old black and white movie and appreciating how lives were lived in that part of the world during the time when Filipinos over here in my country were being maltreated by our Spanish colonizers.

3) During that time, slave owning was legal in that part of Mississippi river and although this novel, unlike "Huckleberry Finn," does not tackle black slavery head on but only as a backdrop, if you analyze the character of Injun Joe, he being a half-Indian, half-White, seems to foreshadow the racial issue depicted in "Huckleberry Finn."

4) Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorn Clemens 1835-1910) made a breakthrough in the American literary scene with this book. There would not have been two "Tom Sawyer" sequels and "Huckleberry Finn" that is considered as The Great American Novel if this book was not written first.

However, given the 4 reasons above, the book is first and foremost about a teenage boy Tom Sawyer particularly his gradual albeit erratic transformation from an immature mischievous boy to that of an conscientious adult. It is also about telling the truth even if it can cause your life. It is also about teenage love and what teenagers have to go through to discover the joys and pains of first love. Notice that these are universal truths. What you see happening in this book, published in 1876, is still what we are still seeing around us now. That makes this book still relevance to everyone.

I love this book and can't wait to continue reading its sequel and said to be the more important one, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huck is in this book but his character is of course not the main course. He is an orphan and the son of the town's drunkard. Tom Sawyer envies him because he is cool and he can do anything he wants without punishment. He appears mysterious and I think he will be stripped of this mysteriousness in the next book.

In terms of reading, the book is not really an easy read because of the many colloquial terms that Mark Twain used. I found myself shuffling between the text and the appendix to find out words and phrases being used in that part of American during the 19th century. It slowed down my reading but at the end, it was all worth it.

I am happy to finally have read a Mark Twain book. I say: more, more, more.(less)

19 likes · like · see review

Aug 12, 2012 Teri rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I truly feel that if Tom Sawyer were ever a real person, there is not one single method of torture that he could endure that would satisfy how much I want to see this person suffer. All I know is that death would be too kind. Tom Sawyer is a bully. He is insufferably mischievous for no good reason, and the only act(s) of heroism he manages to pull off are to fulfill his own selfish motivations. He has absolutely no value to humankind. He is a conviction character with no arc and no personal grow...more

6 likes · like · see review

Jan 08, 2013 Munam884 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The adventure of Tom Sawyer is perhaps Mark Twain’s best and most enjoyable book for younger readers. The book draws on memories of Twain’s childhood on the Mississippi River. Many of the events and characters are taken directly from life. The main character was Tom , he is a mischievous but goodhearted boy. Through his love of adventure and following his imagination, Tom and his friends become involved in many difficult situations. His adventure have a happy ending though to the delight of symp...more

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 27, 2009 Rebecca rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Like Huckleberry Finn, I read it a long time ago and I don't remember much besides that I liked it and it was a really good book.

I remember one part, though, because it was my favorite. I remember the part when Tom is white-washing the fence and he gets everybody else to do it for him. I remember that when I read it I wanted to be like him.

I also remember the beginning. It starts out like this:

"tom" no answer. "tom" no answer.

I thought that was a good way to start. It is filled with suspense a...more

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Nov 23, 2008 tomlinton rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Visit Tom's home in Hannibal MO
and soon you will realize
that young Sam Clemens
who showed his depth
by revisualizing himself as Mark Twain
could look right into Laura Hawkins' bedroom
Hmmmm
I wonder what he saw
of her
Anyway he changed her name
to Becky so her father
the judge wouldn't know

2 likes · like · see review

Jan 27, 2013 Pincha Vongchant rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It so boring at first, they are not doing anything but talking. But the very next chapter, it is getting more excited. Now, Tom and Huck is going to find a treasure.

27/1/13
Tom was trap in the cave with becky and he found that Injun Joe was in there too to hide the treasure. After he and Becky came out of the cave, Injun Joe died in the cave. So, Tom and Huck go find the treasure inside.

1 like · like · see review

Jul 31, 2008 Laura Lynch rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Time magazine recently featured a cover story on the classic American writer Mark Twain. Recalling that we had “The Portable Mark Twain” on our bookshelf, I decided to re-read this one. I was surprised how much of it I forgot. It is a mix of letters and stories including his best known work “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. I was impressed with the intelligence and insight of Twain’s observations on human nature, religion and war. Mark’s commentary and storytelling is colorful and much of it can...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Terry rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What does one say about

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Mar 15, 2009 Jrobertus rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is one of the classic American tales, by perhaps our most esteemed writer. Unlike Huckleberry Finn, this book doesn't take on great moral issues, but is a description of the joys of childhood. The setting is a Mississippi River town in mid 1830's so there were different lifestyles, but certain universal themes come through clearly enough. Tom is a boy's boy who is a bit wild and causes poor Aunt Polly some sleepless nights. Still he has a good side, and his adventures with his pals Huck and...more

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May 16, 2013 Kyle B. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Little Boy’s Dream Town
By: Kyle Bradford
Tom Sawyer is a very adventurous boy who lives with his Aunt Polly and half-brother, Sid. He lives in St. Petersburg, Missouri, in the 1840’s. Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) successfully made a town that is every little boys dream. Tom is mischievous, smart, and adventurous. He loves conning people into doing work for him, establishing relationships from nowhere, and jumping into an adventure when it comes around.
Tom sneaks out one night to meet his friend,...more Little Boy’s Dream Town
By: Kyle Bradford
Tom Sawyer is a very adventurous boy who lives with his Aunt Polly and half-brother, Sid. He lives in St. Petersburg, Missouri, in the 1840’s. Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) successfully made a town that is every little boys dream. Tom is mischievous, smart, and adventurous. He loves conning people into doing work for him, establishing relationships from nowhere, and jumping into an adventure when it comes around.
Tom sneaks out one night to meet his friend, Huck Finn, they go to the grave yard. While he is there, you could say, if you’re mean, he got his punishment for disobeying his Aunt. After Injun Joe kills Dr. Robinson, they make a pact not to tell anyone. I think here Mark Twain expresses his genius in emphasizing realistic problems in an ideal setting; not everything in life goes the way you want it to. Tom didn’t want to tell the Judge about Injun Joe, because of the pact with Huck, but his good conscious made him tell the truth. Also, Tom manages more mischievous action by getting engaged to two girls. Here Twain shows life lessons. Tom likes the new girl in town and gets “engaged” to her, but when she finds out that he is already engaged to Amy she discards him and walks away, as would any respectable girl in real life. Finally, as Tom proves his mischievousness again, he runs away to become a “pirate”, along with Huck and Joe. They spend a lot of time in the wilderness but return home when they realize their families are worried about them. I would love to do that, but I’d tell my parents first.
Tom Sawyer is also smart for he is able to con others into his work, use his conned earnings for personal gain, and easily avoids his Aunt. While he was being punished, white washing the fence, he successfully conned his friends into paying him to white wash for him. “Why, ain’t that work?”…”well, maybe it is, and maybe it ain’t. All I know is, it suits Tom Sawyer.” Tom uses this to reverse the conversation, and uses this to get Ben to white wash for him, “Does a boy get to white wash a fence every day?” As the day goes on he uses the same trick and watches as more and more boys line up to do work that not every boy gets to do every day! With the earnings he got from the boys eventually starting to pay to white wash, he trades it in with the boys at Sunday school for tickets. He gains enough tickets to receive a bible in return. At this point Twain is showing that the mind of a young boy is stronger than most give them credit for. Now, the white washing was a lucky shot by the Aunt in my eyes because the majority of the time Tom gets way, either by tricking her to turn around or while she was looking for something to swat the dang kid with, he’d sneak out the door.
Finally, Tom is very adventurous, a pirate island, a cave, and the overall chasing of Injun Joe, each an adventure in their own. Because Injun Joe is the main villain in the adventure, I’ll start there. When the boys over hear Injun Joe speak of treasure, the boys want a share. Huck followed him as Tom had things going on with Becky. After impressing her and getting her getting her to like her again, they went on a picnic. They end up in a cave exploring for a while. Soon, Tom sees Injun Joe in one of the off shoots of the cave. Tom and Becky run away and end up lost. Twain is now showing his ability to incorporate feeling again. Tom and Becky are both seriously worried, but for different reasons. Twain works with the idea of human fear through Tom, and the idea of being homesick through Becky. I find it ironic that this is the second time the town had to search for Tom. The first time was on the island, Pirate island, which he went to when he was kicked out of the house. I believe Twain is trying to express affection for childhood. One day you could be so mad at your child and kick them out, but then realize it’s almost a personal punishment because you like having them around (when they’re good). You start to worry and allow the child back.
When you were a little boy, or girl; depending on how adventurous you were, wouldn’t you love to have Tom Sawyers dangerous, fun, and suspenseful life. Getting lost in the woods, sneaking out late, falling in love (for no good reason). If I could choose between this and how I grew up, I’d still choose this!
(less)

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May 13, 2013 matt rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: america-f-k-yeah, fictions-of-the-big-it

I read this when I was pretty young. I remember having one of those gold-embossed Classics for Kids hardcovers and being sick or something and just going through it hour after hour. I remember slowly turning the cover forward and back, watching the ripple of light from my window pass over the indentations of Tom's face and actually scaring myself with how drastically different it looked without the fully embossed gold shining...he looked positively demonic when the light hit him the right way.....more

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May 07, 2013 Jaz added it · review of another edition

The name of the book i am reading is called"The Adventure OF Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain! this book is a great read if you love adventure, but there is also many differnt kinds of this book wroten in differnt reading levels puls told differntly bu still following the original story.
This book had many diffent gonerias it could fit into for instance 1)Adventure 2)historial and 3) fiction. Mark Twain the author was born in 1835 as a boy he grew up writing lovely short stories and shared them with ev...more

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Apr 29, 2013 Clayton Kim rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" has brought great joy to many people of the world. Unfortunately, that didn't happen in my case. Tom Sawyer is a troubled boy who gets himself in trouble quite often and tries to be a "bad boy." The author tries to make Tom look intelligent by making him able to trick his friends into doing his chores. However, the author makes Tom's friend look extremely foolish and incapable of thinking properly, which is pretty boring and depressing. Not only are the minor chara...more

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Apr 28, 2013 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classic

I taught this novel so many years back when we did such things, and I loved it more every year. I think my kids loved it, too, because what's not to love about Mark Twain, and we had a ball with it. This book is so much deeper than most people see on the surface, and I'm certainly not going into all of that here. Every literary critic in America has been there, done that. But I can wax ethereal about "writing what you know" - from taking out the window jamb when you make your escape from a dead...more

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Apr 22, 2013 Alex Grasso marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Over the past winter semester, our seventh grade class has been reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. The book was very hard for me to read by myself because the language is much different in the book then from how it is now. The people say words and phrases that I don't really know the meaning of. When we read the book as a group in class I was able to understand what they are talking when the use the old phrases, I was even able to look at the book in a entirely different perspec...more

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Apr 11, 2013 Quinton O. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Tom wants to be a free boy and be friends with Huck Finn but his teachers and the town frown upon this so Tom evades them and becomes friends with huck and does what he wants. I enjoyed this book very much it was very entertaining and adventurous. Mark twain writes so beautifully and makes you feel like you and you hope he doesn’t get caught just as much as he does he brings you into the story. I believe this book is so good and I enjoy it so much because he bring...more

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Apr 08, 2013 Johann Guenther rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

TWAIN, Mark: „Die Abenteuer Tom Sawyers“, Halle 1900 – als eBook
Ein Jugendbuch, das aber auch für Erwachsene interessant ist. Für heutige Jugendliche vielleicht sogar weniger als für Erwachsene. Es ist ein Geschichtsbuch, ein Bericht von Zeitzeigen einer anderen Zeit. Verpackt in einem Jugendbuch, das in der heutigen Zeit kein Jugendbuch mehr ist. Ein Bub, den man auch Lausbub nennen könnte, der sich mit „böse Buben Streichen“ durchs Leben schlägt und dabei reich und angesehen wird. Schon sein V...more

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Mar 07, 2013 Inga rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classic

One of the first books I downloaded on my new kindle was Twain's Tom Sawyer (maybe inspired by a postcrossing card I got in May 2011). I have always wanted to read some of the classic American and English literature - in fact it was one of the reasons why I bought the kindle, so many free e-books to choose from!
It was fun to read Tom Sawyer, the language (and slang) of 1876's Missouri was a challenge in some parts (but not a problem thanks to helpful kindle context dictionary - great feature!) b...more

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Jan 31, 2013 Wade Radlet rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Growing up in a small town along the Mississippi Tom Sawyer, a town hoodlum and mischievous boy, he can't help but experience his own amazing adventures. Tom goes on countless adventure trough the book ranging from getting engaged to his new found love Becky, to witnessing a cold blooded murder, to running away with friends to an island to become pirates, to even showing up to his own funeral. Full of guilt Tom soon finds himself testifying against a crazed injun and going in the run but this wo...more

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About Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He is noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), called "the Great American Novel", and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876).

Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which would later provide the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. He apprenticed with a printer. He also work...more

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