It's hard for me to rate "classics" because the expectations are somehow different. I had only read Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, or maybe I never did read them but they are seared into my sub/consciousness. This book is a farce, but also a slice of life in what feels like the years just prior to the civil war. It's set in Missouri and the main characters are two boys, switched in their babyhood, such that the wee master of the house becomes the slave baby and vice versa. The mother of the slave, who is herself a slave, does the switching, and then it becomes interesting. The story focuses more on the slave who grows up as master, and I would dearly have loved to hear more about the other boy. Altogether an easy and interesting read. The slave "accent" can be hard to follow such as " 'Clah to goodness I ain't, mammy; Marse Tom tole me so his own self. But nemmine, 't ain't enough." There's a whole lot of political incorrectness (based on today's standards) going on yet I felt it was so honest in some ways, rather than tiptoe-ing around. Bottom line: quick read, interesting, classic, why not.