Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Read Book* *Different edition

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

(Adventures of Tom and Huck #1)

Mark Twain,

Guy Cardwell (Annotations),

John Seelye (Introduction)

3.91 · Rating details · 746,626 ratings · 9,805 reviews

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer revolves around the youthful adventures of the novel's schoolboy protagonist, Thomas Sawyer, whose reputation precedes him for causing mischief and strife. Tom lives with his Aunt Polly, half-brother Sid, and cousin Mary in the quaint town of St. Petersburg, just off the shore of the Mississippi River. St. Petersburg is described as a typical s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer revolves around the youthful adventures of the novel's schoolboy protagonist, Thomas Sawyer, whose reputation precedes him for causing mischief and strife. Tom lives with his Aunt Polly, half-brother Sid, and cousin Mary in the quaint town of St. Petersburg, just off the shore of the Mississippi River. St. Petersburg is described as a typical small-town atmosphere where the Christian faith is predominant, the social network is close-knit, and familiarity resides.

Unlike his brother Sid, Tom receives "lickings" from his Aunt Polly; ever the mischief-maker, would rather play hooky than attend school and often sneaks out his bedroom window at night to adventure with his friend, Huckleberry Finn the town's social outcast. Tom, despite his dread of schooling, is extremely clever and would normally get away with his pranks if Sid were not such a "tattle-tale."

As punishment for skipping school to go swimming, Aunt Polly assigns Tom the chore of whitewashing the fence surrounding the house. In a brilliant scheme, Tom is able to con the neighborhood boys into completing the chore for him, managing to convince them of the joys of whitewashing. At school, Tom is equally as flamboyant, and attracts attention by chasing other boys, yelling, and running around. With his usual antics, Tom attempts to catch the eye of Becky Thatcher, a new girl in town, and persuades her to get "engaged" by kissing him. But their romance collapses when she learns Tom has been "engaged" previously to Amy Lawrence. Shortly after Becky shuns him, he accompanies Huckleberry Finn to the graveyard at night, where they witness the murder of Dr. Robinson.

Excerpt:
"TOM!"
No answer.
"TOM!"
No answer.
"What's gone with that boy, I wonder? You TOM!"
No answer.
The old lady pulled her spectacles down and looked over them about the room; then she put them up and looked out under them. She seldom or never looked through them for so small a thing as a boy; they were her state pair, the pride of her heart, and were built for "style," not service—she could have seen through a pair of stove-lids just as well. She looked perplexed for a moment, and then said, not fiercely, but still loud enough for the furniture to hear:
"Well, I lay if I get hold of you I'll—"
She did not finish, for by this time she was bending down and punching under the bed with the broom, and so she needed breath to punctuate the punches with. She resurrected nothing but the cat.
"I never did see the beat of that boy!" ...more

Get A Copy

Paperback, Annotated, 244 pages

Published February 28th 2006 by Penguin Classics (first published 1875)

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Books That Everyone Should Read At Least Once

22,392 books — 98,455 voters

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

Best Books Ever

51,270 books — 200,742 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 3.91 ·

Rating details

· 746,626 ratings · 9,805 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

May 02, 2010 Nataliya rated it liked it

Shelves: my-childhood-bookshelves

I was five and a half years old when my mother gave me The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as a New Year's gift (she is a literature teacher, and I have been reading novels since the tender age of four or so, and so it seemed appropriate).

Being a diligent and serious¹ child (neither of those qualities have stuck with me, unfortunately), I opened it to page 1 and started reading. I even took it with me to kindergarten, where other kids were learning letters and I was mercifully allowed to read hefty tom I was five and a half years old when my mother gave me The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as a New Year's gift (she is a literature teacher, and I have been reading novels since the tender age of four or so, and so it seemed appropriate).

Being a diligent and serious¹ child (neither of those qualities have stuck with me, unfortunately), I opened it to page 1 and started reading. I even took it with me to kindergarten, where other kids were learning letters and I was mercifully allowed to read hefty tomes, having obviously achieved full literacy by that point.

¹

Me (age 5) and Mom. The diligent seriousness is *all over* this picture.

This book initially left me quite confused, but I was undeterred - after all, the world was a confusing place, full of adults and rules and great books - even those without pictures. (And I was very proud to own books without pictures, after all). But his one was just too strange - its beginning did not quite fit with the rest of the quite fun story - it was odd and dry and incomprehensible for the first 40 pages or so, and it even was about some other guy (Samuel Clemens?) who was not Tom Sawyer.

A few years later I reread my early childhood favorite (I probably reached a ripe old age of eight or so, still diligent but a bit less serious already). It was then that I figured out what seemed strange about the beginning of this book when I was five.

You see, I diligently slogged my way through the most boring academic foreword, assuming that was the first chapter. What amazes me that I managed to stay awake through it. Good job, five-year-old me! Excellent preparation for that painfully boring biochemistry course a couple of decades later!

After that foreword, slogging through any classic was a comparative breeze. Yes, I'm looking at you, War and Peace! You know what you did, you endless tome.

Also, as it turns out, when you include two characters named Joe in one book (Injun Joe and Tom's classmate Joe Harper) that can cause a certain amount of confusion to a five-year-old who assumes they have to be the same person and struggles really hard to reconcile their seemingly conflicting characters. And, as a side note, I have always been disappointed at Tom Sawyer tricking his friends to do the infamous fence whitewashing. A *real* kid knows after all that painting stuff is fun. Five-year-old me was a bit disapproving of the silliness.

I have told bits and pieces of this book to my friends on the playground, while dangling from the monkey bars or building sandcastles (in a sandbox, that in retrospect I suspect was used by the neighborhood stray cats as a litterbox - but I guess you have to develop immunity to germs somehow). We may have planned an escape to an island in a true Tom Sawyer fashion, but the idea fizzled. After all, we did not have an island nearby, which was a problem. Also, we may have got distracted by the afternoon cartoons.

Someday, I just may have to leave this book within a reach of my future hypothetical daughter - as long as I make sure it does not come with a long-winded boring introduction. ...more

flag 224 likes · Like · see review

Jun 15, 2008 Petra-X rated it really liked it

Recommended to Petra-X by: meghan krogh

Shelves: 2015-reviews, fiction, children

Update All we need now is a "lost" manuscript by Twain to be found by some lawyer with the story being about an adult Tom Sawyer and this book being the one the editor "forced" Twain to write. I know you are probably thinking that is taking Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman to far, but what if that was just the beginning of a new initiative from publishers. It could be the latest fashion now no-one is interested in vampires any more?
__________

What happened to Tom after he grew up was asked in a rev ...more

flag 170 likes · Like · see review

Jun 25, 2014 Lisa rated it really liked it

Shelves: children, unforgettable

So, my daughter just started reading Tom Sawyer for the very first time, and I am jealous of her!

First of all, she can read it in original, while I read it in translation as a child. Second, I wish I could still have that immediate, surprised response to the silly situations. About every five minutes, she comes into my room, reading out loud some funny quotes, making the scenes come alive in my memory again. The fight between the two boys threatening with their fake big brothers, followed by th ...more

flag 146 likes · Like · see review

Jun 09, 2019 Always Pouting rated it liked it · review of another edition

My coworker and my boyfriend made fun of me when I was reading this because apparently it's written for children and they both read it when younger. I have nothing to say in my defense, I didn't know I don't know most things if that isn't obvious by now. On a related note I probably would have enjoyed this more when younger. It wasn't bad, it was okay but I wasn't really itching to keep reading it and didn't have that usual urge that I get when reading a really enjoyable book to give up even goi ...more

flag 141 likes · Like · see review

Jun 02, 2008 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, 19th-century, childrens-young-readers, historical, classics, picaresque

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (The Adventures of Tom and Huck #1), Mark Twain

Thomas "Tom" Sawyer is the title character of the Mark Twain novel "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (1884), "Tom Sawyer Abroad" (1894), and "Tom Sawyer, Detective" (1896).

Tom Sawyer, an orphan, lives with his Aunt Polly and his half-brother Sid in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, Missouri sometime in the 1840's. A fun-loving boy, Tom s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (The Adventures of Tom and Huck #1), Mark Twain

Thomas "Tom" Sawyer is the title character of the Mark Twain novel "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (1884), "Tom Sawyer Abroad" (1894), and "Tom Sawyer, Detective" (1896).

Tom Sawyer, an orphan, lives with his Aunt Polly and his half-brother Sid in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, Missouri sometime in the 1840's. A fun-loving boy, Tom skips school to go swimming and is made to whitewash his aunt's fence for the entirety of the next day, Saturday, as punishment. In one of the most famous scenes in American literature, Tom cleverly persuades the various neighborhood children to trade him small trinkets and treasures for the "privilege" of doing his tedious work, using reverse psychology to convince them it is an enjoyable activity. Tom later trades the trinkets with other students for various denominations of tickets, obtained at the local Sunday school for memorizing verses of Scripture; he cashes these in to the minister in order to win a much-coveted Bible offered to studious children as a prize, despite being one of the worst students in the Sunday school and knowing almost nothing of Scripture, eliciting envy from the students and a mixture of pride and shock from the adults. Tom falls in love with Becky Thatcher, a new girl in town and the daughter of a prominent judge. Tom wins the admiration of the judge in church by obtaining the Bible as a prize, but reveals his ignorance when he cannot answer basic questions about Scripture. Tom pursues Becky, eventually persuading her to get "engaged" by kissing him. However, their romance soon collapses when she learns that Tom had been previously "engaged" to another schoolgirl, Amy Lawrence, and that Becky was not his first girlfriend.

عنوانها: تام سایر؛ توم سایر؛ ماجراهای تام سایر؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: ماه فوریه سال 1981 میلادی

عنوان: تام سایر؛ نویسنده: مارک تواین؛ مترجم: محمدرضا جعفری؛ تهران، امیرکبیر - کتابهای طلائی - شماره 52، چاپ سوم 1354؛ در 36 ص؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان امریکایی - سده 19 م
عنوان: ماجراهای تام سایر (متن کوتاه شده)؛ نویسنده: مارک تواین؛ مترجم: جعفر مدرس صادقی؛ تهران، نشر مرکز، کتاب مریم، 1373؛ در 158 ص؛ شابک: 9643050696؛ عنوان دیگر: توم سایر؛چاپ سوم 1380؛ چاپ چهارم 1388؛ در 118 ص؛
عنوان: تام سایر؛ نویسنده: مارک تواین؛ مترجم: سودابه زرکف؛ تهران، آیینه، 1395؛ در 176 ص؛ شابک: 9786008098119؛
عنوان: ماجراهای تام سایر؛ نویسنده: مارک تواین؛ مترجم: داود سالک؛ تهران، معیار علم، 1386؛ در 272 ص؛ شابک: 9789646651852؛
عنوان: ماجراهای تام سایر (متن کوتاه شده)؛ نویسنده: مارک تواین؛ مترجم: محسن سلیمانی؛ تهران، سوره، 1377؛ در 167 ص؛ مصور
عنوان: ماجراهای تام سایر؛ نویسنده: مارک تواین؛ مترجم: مریم طیبی؛ ویراستار: سیدامیرمحمد آزادی نائینی، تهران، آتون کتاب، 1395؛ در 456 ص؛ شابک: 9786008388159؛
مترجمین دیگر: مهدی علوی در 160 ص؛ احمد کسایی پور در 410 ص؛ گیومرث پارسای در 322 ص؛ فاطمه امینی 311 ص؛ سپهر شهلایی در 120 ص؛ شایسته ابراهیمی در 71 ص؛ لیلا سبحانی در 212 ص؛ غزاله ابراهیمی در 238 ص؛ مریم یعقوبی در 32 ص؛ و ....؛

تام نماینده ی دنیای فوق‌ العاده و بی‌دغدغه ی پسرهای نوجوان، پیش از جنگ داخلی آمریکاست. او همانند بسیاری از پسرهای آن زمان، بیشتر اوقات دوست دارد پابرهنه راه برود. بهترین دوستانش «جو هارپر» و «هاکلبری فین» هستند. در رمان «ماجراهای تام سایر»، او به یکی از همکلاسیهای خود به نام «ربه‌ کا (بکی) تاچر»، دل می‌بندد. او با برادر ناتنی‌ اش: «سید»، دخترخاله‌ اش: «مری»، و «خاله پولی»، در شهر خیالی «سن‌ پترزبورگ»، در ایالت «میسوری» زندگی می‌کند. «تام» خاله ی دیگری هم به نام: «سالی»، دارد؛ که در شهر: «پایکزویل»، پایین رود «می‌.سی‌.سی‌.پی» زندگی می‌کند. مادر او (خواهر خاله پولی)، از دنیا رفته‌ است. یک شب «تام» و دوست صمیمیش «هاک»، در پی یک ماجراجویی، به قبرستان می‌روند، و به‌ طور تصادفی، شاهد قتل «دکتر رابینسون» می‌شوند. آن‌ها سوگند می‌خورند، که راز آن شب را، هرگز برملا نکنند. «ماف پاتر» از اهالی شهر، که دائم‌ الخمر است، با توطئه‌ چینی «جو سرخپوسته»، به اتهام قتل دستگیر می‌شود، اما بچه‌ ها می‌دانند «ماف پاتر» بیگناه است و ...؛ «مارک توین» در مقدمه ی این کتاب می‌نویسند: «بیشتر ماجراهایی که در این کتاب ثبت شده‌ اند، در واقعیت اتفاق افتاده‌ اند. یکی دوتا تجربه ی شخصی خود من بوده، بقیه ماجراهایی که برای پسرهای همکلاس من رخ داده است. شخصیت «هاکلبری فین» از یک آدم واقعی گرفته شده، «تام سایر» هم همین‌طور، ولی نه از یک نفر. «تام» ترکیبی از خصوصیات و خلق و خوی سه پسربچه است، که من می‌شناختم، در نتیجه از نظر ساخت، شخصیتی چند وجهی‌ نست.»؛ پایان نقل. ا. شربیانی ...more

flag 119 likes · Like · see review

Jan 16, 2014 Ahmad Ebaid rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: أدب

عن مغامرات الطفل الشقي توم سوير وأصدقاءه
The adventures of naughty little boy, Tom Sawyer and his friends.
You won't believe it wrote 150 years ago,
as Mark Twain's procedure is simple and fluid.
He do not show off with language techniques or dictionary's vocabulary.
just adventures and events, no silly metaphors
an enjoyable novel that i have read at one session
On starting reading "Huckleberry Finn", I knew that it was the second part of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", so I went back to the first ...more

flag 120 likes · Like · see review

Jun 25, 2018 Justin Tate rated it it was amazing

Despite knowing this story front-and-back, it was nice to finally read the unabridged words of one of America's finest storytellers. The scene with Tom lost in the cave is notably incredible, but Twain's folksy prose is a delight throughout. I'm not as familiar with the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Can't wait to start that one soon!

flag 110 likes · Like · see review

Jan 14, 2008 Doug rated it it was amazing

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

flag 102 likes · Like · see review

Aug 13, 2020 Julie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: in-the-middle, a-boy-s-life, missouri, kids-read-across-america

Well, the Show Me State showed me.

Showed me how you do it. How you write stories so colorfully and so well-crafted, you could almost cry from reading them.

Paulette Jiles took me all over the state of Missouri this week, in her 2002 publication of Enemy Women, a historical fiction novel that takes place in 1864, and then Mark Twain took my daughters and me to St. Petersburg, Missouri, to the real world of 1876.

And what's in that world of 1876 Missouri?

Well. . . riverboats, wagons, poor white boys ...more

flag 104 likes · Like · see review

Sep 24, 2012 Evgeny rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure

Although my book is intended mainly for the entertainment of boys and girls, I hope it will not be shunned by men and women on that account, for part of my plan has been to try to pleasantly remind adults of what they once were themselves, and of how they felt and thought and talked, and what queer enterprises they sometimes engaged in.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens aka Mark Twain

The above quote comes straight from the preface of the book and I really cannot add anything else to it; I would not dare ...more

flag 86 likes · Like · see review

Feb 08, 2012 Fabian rated it liked it

Been a while since Huck Finn, & I finally got around to reading this, a certain preparation text for the Mississippi River classic. This one is considered far inferior, & it is. Although, I must admit, the opening is stronger and the adventures are more varied. There is substantially more comedy in this, more of a dabbling with the picaresque—far more enjoyable then. But Huckleberry has a more pervasive pathos than this one: overall, a stronger sense of the loneliness experienced one lazy Sunday ...more

flag 74 likes · Like · see review

Sep 05, 2016 James rated it really liked it

Shelves: 4-written-pre-20th-century, 2-fic-young-adult, 1-fiction

Book Review
4+ out of 5 stars for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a classic novel written in 1876 by Mark Twain. Another book where there are likely tons of reviews, each covering the plot, summary, characters, writing and themes. I'll try not to do that, but instead a few quick hits on what made me like this one so much. An author's job is difficult. You undoubtedly have hundreds of ideas and images swimming around inside your head. You may want to try to correct a wrong in society. Yo Book Review
4+ out of 5 stars for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a classic novel written in 1876 by Mark Twain. Another book where there are likely tons of reviews, each covering the plot, summary, characters, writing and themes. I'll try not to do that, but instead a few quick hits on what made me like this one so much. An author's job is difficult. You undoubtedly have hundreds of ideas and images swimming around inside your head. You may want to try to correct a wrong in society. You could be highlighting all the things that people should be aware of. It might be an opportunity to share a dream or wild imagination with readers. Mark Twain is all of those things tied together with a big, beautiful bow. He understands how to write. He knows how people read. He doesn't care about either enough to worry what he does in his novels. And I don't mean that in a critical or accusatory way. I mean that it all just pours out of him regardless of his audience, as he just naturally builds a wonderful story full of memories. With a setting like the Mississippi River, characters like Tom and Huck, messages like "how do you grow up to be a good man" threaded throughout the story, it couldn't possibly fail. I'm not even covering the themes around slavery and freedom, men and women, skin color, age, relationships... it's purely a theory on how to live your life so that you know what to expect, when to expect it and how to react. So much more I could say... but the best I could leave you with is... this is the kinda book everyone needs to read as we will all take something very different from it. Sometimes we will be angry that Twain didn't do enough, considering how brilliant he was, to help support the causes going on at the time he wrote this. Others praise him for shining a light on what was happening. It's controversial, diverse and thought-provoking. That's why to read it -- to engage in a discourse where you can feel free to share your opinion and understand every else's feelings, too.

About Me
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. ...more

flag 72 likes · Like · see review

Jan 17, 2014 Sean Barrs rated it it was ok

Shelves: classics, 2-star-reads, children-of-all-ages

How many people get to crash their funeral?

Is it sort of weird that I want to do this? I mean it would be such a fun surprise for people or bad depending on what they thought of you. Imagine going to the funeral of your sworn enemy and then he bursts through the door, you’d be so disappointed or as equally amazed if you just buried your best friend and he turns up to say hi.

It something to ponder at least, other than that this book is pretty shit. I mean the narrative structure is a mess, the d ...more

flag 72 likes · Like · see review

May 10, 2018 Em Lost In Books rated it liked it

Recommended to Em Lost In Books by: ARPiT

Shelves: 2018, 3-star, stand-alone-read, 1800-1900

3.5* a good, funny story.

flag 64 likes · Like · see review

Sep 02, 2016 Michael Finocchiaro rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: american-19th-c, novels, fiction, classics, kids, favorites

There are few children's stories as memorable for boys as Tom Sawyer. Whether it is pre-adolescent fascination with girls, getting away with not working, or a late night adventure - Tom Sawyer has it all in spades. My kid absolutely loves this book and we go back to it every few years over and over again. It is a true reading pleasure which you should absolutely not deprive yourself of.

flag 56 likes · Like · see review

Jun 07, 2016 Carmen rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Anyone

Shelves: children, booklist113-2-1-17, fiction, classics, he-says, traditionally-published, published1876, american-author

"Looky-here, Tom, being rich ain't what it's cracked up to be. It's just worry and worry, and sweat and sweat, and a-wishing you was dead all the time."

This book is great. I hadn't read it in years, and found it just as good as the previous times I've read it. An American classic by the late, great Mark Twain.

Tom Sawyer isn't really a bad kid although he's always painted and remembered as a little troublemaker, the truth is he has a strong conscience and a strong moral compass. Sure he'll "hook" ...more

flag 53 likes · Like · see review

Feb 01, 2019 Merphy Napier rated it really liked it

Shelves: four-stars, classics

This story perfectly captures the logic, mindset, and rational of children. I loved seeing the way these kids viewed the world, and I loved their rational when their worldview was proven wrong. The strongest ellement of this book is the way Mark Twain was able to get into the minds of children and depiction it so perfectly on the page.

The thing I didn't love as much was the meandering plot. There was clearly a direction and purpose to this story, but it took forever to get there and there were ...more

flag 48 likes · Like · see review

Mar 30, 2018 Melki rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-book, classic-fiction, middle-grade-readers

Twain takes a hard-hitting look at the dark, seamy underbelly of an American childhood.

Who'd a thunk that this small Missouri town could be such a horrifying place to spend one's formative years?

So much ignorance and superstition . . .

"You got to go all by yourself, to the middle of the woods, where you know there's a spunk-water stump, and just as it's midnight you back up against the stump and jam your hand in and say:
'Barley-corn, Barley-corn, injun-meal shorts,
Spunk-water, spunk-water, ...more

flag 47 likes · Like · see review

May 23, 2020 Matthew Appleton rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: american-literature, read-2020, 19th-century

82nd book of 2020.

This is a great story that took me, particularly their time on the island as ‘pirates’, back to my days in the Sea Scouts. Every year, save a few where we went elsewhere, we camped in Marlowe, right on the bank of the river Thames. We slept in tents, went sailing on calm river mornings, looked at the mansions that flanked the water and dreamt up imaginary lives for ourselves, living in them with beautiful wives, long shadows from the trees lay across the still water, we had cam 82nd book of 2020.

This is a great story that took me, particularly their time on the island as ‘pirates’, back to my days in the Sea Scouts. Every year, save a few where we went elsewhere, we camped in Marlowe, right on the bank of the river Thames. We slept in tents, went sailing on calm river mornings, looked at the mansions that flanked the water and dreamt up imaginary lives for ourselves, living in them with beautiful wives, long shadows from the trees lay across the still water, we had campfires, we lined each other’s tents with alcohol gel and set it alight for a ring of fire, we tied each other to trees, we played takedown bulldog, we used rope to heave one another’s kayak up a tree, we pushed each other in the lake, we got bored washing up and slapped each other with soapy hands, we ate jam on bread all day, we swam in the freezing cold water, we whipped each other with towels, we wrestled, we shouted, we punched and kicked, we helped one another when someone capsized their boat, we told ghost stories, we played manhunt at night, we lay on our backs and looked at the blue skies, we took each other’s washing off the line and threw it in the river or up on branches, we got homesick, too, we comforted each other, we cried sometimes, we missed our parents, but we also had ultimate freedom for a week, we could swear, we could stay up late, we could spit in the water, we could lick our plates, we could eat breakfast with our feet in the water, we could sunbathe with no homework, we could, above all, relish in the fact that we were all young and free, and happy.

I’m surprised to see so many poor reviews of this. A lecturer of mine once said, “People don’t like Tom Sawyer because it isn’t Huckleberry Finn,” and that may be so. I’ve seen people say it’s written for children, but the issue is this: it is complicated or boring for children, and not interesting enough for adults. I don’t know about the former, but I disagree with the latter.

And in fact, there is one paragraph that perfectly matches an observation I myself have had, and I myself have even written about. I realised that no matter what boisterous boy behaviour occurred on camp, there were times that nature prevailed over us. I won’t describe every memory, but several stand out, to illustrate my point, and then Twain’s observation too. At times, normally on the water, we were quiet. The river had the power, where all adults failed, to subdue us. Even the most wild Scouts were still, melancholic even, under the river’s trance. The same happened at night sometimes, in woods, where the trees that stood around us lulled us to thoughtfulness. I have profound (I believe them to be very profound moments in my life) of looking at boys in these moments. One friend, who particularly enjoyed hitting us, and I once took a sailing boat out one morning, a little one. I lay on the front of the boat on my back and he sailed. The whole time I wondered when he was going to hit me, or else tip me off the boat, but he didn’t. And when I glanced over my shoulder, I caught him staring intently, sadly, at the water rippling and parting under the boat, lost in some deep and personal thought. For me, it was like I had seen a whole new side to his character, a whole deeper understanding of him. After that, we became very close friends, we still talk, infrequently, today. So, it swelled my heart, and moved me, to read these few lines from Twain:

The stillness, the solemnity, that brooded in the woods, and the sense of loneliness, began to tell upon the spirits of the boys. They fell to thinking. A sort of undefined longing crept upon them. This took dim shape presently – it was budding home-sickness.

And apart from this beautiful moment in the book, the rest is enjoyable and humorous – Tom, Huckleberry and Joe have a great adventure together, being pirates, gate-crashing their own funeral and playing Robin Hood. These entertaining moments do not distract from the melancholic ones though, the stillness of the boys and their inevitable climb towards adulthood, like us, never to return again to those years of childhood wonder and freedom, like how I will never again experience being twelve years old on camp again, which saddens me. ...more

flag 45 likes · Like · see review

Sep 12, 2007 Nathan rated it it was amazing

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

flag 45 likes · Like · see review

Jun 18, 2019 Trish rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is my first Mark Twain. Yep, you read that correctly. Of course I knew the author. I knew his actual name, how this pen name came about, that he was a cat lover, that he might have been a child of his time but also highly critical of certain social matters such as slavery. But I had never read his books. It was about time. And the current weather (hot and often humid too) was perfect as a setting.

This is a book for younger readers. The protagonist is Tom Sawyer, a mischievious boy who lives ...more

flag 44 likes · Like · see review

Aug 26, 2009 K.D. Absolutely rated it liked it · review of another edition

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

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

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. ...more

flag 42 likes · Like · see review

Dec 24, 2018 Ujjawal Sureka rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Genre: Satire, Folk, Children's literature
Publication Date: 1876

Liked this book a lot.
: Its full of adventures and frolic.
: The style of writing is fun and animate.
: The characters do seem original as claimed by the author, their talks are musing.
: Love the language used.
: Apart from being funny, the stories also offered a lot of great insights and life lessons.
: All kinds of emotions are expressed very beautifully and sometimes rather poetically.
: At many instances, we are kept at the edge of o ...more

flag 38 likes · Like · see review

Nov 04, 2010 unknown rated it really liked it

Recommended to unknown by: Fisher Price

Shelves: 52-in-2010, 2010, classics, dailylit

As a child, nothing terrified me more than being lost. My parents found this hilarious. Every time we went on a road trip, my dad would wait a few hours and then start moaning that we had somehow gotten lost. "We're looost! We're looost!" he would wail, and in the backseat I would immediately start bawling. My vivid memories of this suggest that the fear grabbed me long after I should have been old enough to realize that a little kid can't really be lost while with his parents, let alone that yo As a child, nothing terrified me more than being lost. My parents found this hilarious. Every time we went on a road trip, my dad would wait a few hours and then start moaning that we had somehow gotten lost. "We're looost! We're looost!" he would wail, and in the backseat I would immediately start bawling. My vivid memories of this suggest that the fear grabbed me long after I should have been old enough to realize that a little kid can't really be lost while with his parents, let alone that you can't really get lost in any meaningful way in a car in the U.S. (well, maybe spiritually).

I don't know if this is a universal kid fear, but I think with me, it stemmed from this book. More specifically, from the Fisher Price audio production, which I listened to so many times I had large swaths of it memorized ("Tom Sawyer is a tale of imagination and wonder, told especially for you... from Fisher Price!"). And this thing was 90 minutes. The part where Becky and Tom get lost in McDougal's Cave was the most harrowing thing I could imagine, even though in retrospect it was probably really ridiculous, what with all the boys clearly voiced by adult women and the oddly didactic dialogue ("Oh Tom, the candle's almost out. Oh Tom, it's going out. Tom, it's out! what will we do, Tom?"). And like being lost in the dark wasn't enough, "Engine" Joe was in there too! (I don't know if it's because I never saw the word in print but it wasn't until I was in my teens that I finally realized what his name was, and what it meant).

When my family went to Disney World when I was about five, we visited the Tom Sawyer's Cave attraction. My dad, ever the gentle and loving parental figure, decided to taunt me first by moaning that we were lost, and then by saying that Injun Joe was going to get me. This incident I don't remember, but my mom assures me there was a lot of loud screaming. Everyone, including the people in line behind us, thought it was very, very funny that I was scarred for life. I suppose the idea of being terrified while at a sanitized place like Disney World seems a little amusing. Except in the Hall of Presidents, which is certifiably creepy.

I'd actually never read this before, and it's just delightful. So much of it has become iconic, but it's still quite an endearing portrait of the idealized boyhood, the way the mundanities of life seem to stretch out into elaborate adventures and when sitting next to the girl you like is an experience all its own. I read Huck Finn in high school like everyone else, and though it's a great book, this one is just more fun to read. It is very episodic, more a series of adventures than a cohesive narrative (and Tom certainly has a busy summer... mine rarely involved witnessing murders or being threatened by murderers), which is probably why it is such an enduring and popular read for children.

It's pretty amazing how much of the book Fisher Price was able to fit into that tape. I think only a few sections weren't represented, and all the big ones (the cave, the treasure hunt, the funeral scene, the pirate adventures) were vividly familiar when I finally read them. Of course, I'm sure it's missing a lot of Twain's color and subtle, underplayed humor, and I'm also sure it would sound a lot less impressive if I listened to it again. Which fortunately I can probably never do because even though I still have the tape, I haven't owned anything that will play it in about five years. ...more

flag 38 likes · Like · see review

Apr 02, 2020 Virginie rated it liked it

Shelves: jeunesse, owned-books, funny, classics, historical

The strength of this classic novel is in the way children are depicted, with their naivety and neverending imagination. In that way, it made me think of Anne of Green Gables.

I really liked discovering the era described by Twain, like all the weird superstitions and the cultural changes since then.

I wasn't that enthralled but it was a cute story.

flag 36 likes · Like · see review

Feb 23, 2018 Dannii Elle rated it it was ok

Shelves: classic-captivaton, historical-highness

I feel a certain sense of guilt when I don't enjoy a classic. I find myself filled with sorrow at having missed what is so beloved or important about a text to have allowed it to stand the test of time. Nethertheless, here we are.

Whilst this did not begin as an unenjoyable novel, I found myself weary with the repetition of Tom's antics, as this wore on. The headstrong Tom Sawyer, who made for such an initially witty and clever protagonist started to become, dare I say it, dull! I believe this wa ...more

flag 37 likes · Like · see review

Sep 23, 2011 Nandakishore Varma rated it really liked it

Shelves: classic

What to say about this book?

Tom Sawyer is an intrepid adventurer, an incurable romantic, a devious trickster, a mischievous imp, a hopeless dreamer... a lot of things rolled into one. He is THE BOY who epitomises boyhood.

As Bertie Wooster would say - he reminds me that I too, once, lived in Arcady.

flag 36 likes · Like · see review

May 24, 2016 K. Elizabeth rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2-stars, classics, below-average, owned, reviewed, fiction

So, I reread this and gave it another shot! And unfortunately, I still can't give it 3-stars; not when it dragged as much as it did for me. Still, I feel like this is a me thing because I can completely see why so many people love this novel; but it's not my cup-of-tea and I don't think it ever will be.

flag 37 likes · Like · see review

Jun 08, 2019 Bradley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2019-shelf, ya, traditional-fiction

Mark Twain, or rather, Samuel Clemens, was a special man. When he wasn't hating everyone generally but loving them individually, he was writing very observant tales that did much more than scratch the surface of hypocrisy, racism, and the gullibility that resides in us all.

I'm a fan. A big fan. And the man was very witty. "There is no weather in this book." God. I love this shit.

So when I finally get around to re-reading his old stuff like Tom Sawyer, a YA book if I've ever read one, I was certa ...more

flag 36 likes · Like · see review

Oct 15, 2015 Miquel Reina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: adventure, classics, pearl, mustread, top-books

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is one of the great classics of English literature and I think one of the most important books for any writer. I read the adventures of Tom Sawyer when I was a child, but I still remember with a smile the wonderful story of Mark Twain.

Spanish version:
Las aventuras de Tom Sawyer es uno de los grandes clásicos de la literatura inglesa y un referente para cualquier autor actual. Leí la aventuras de Tom Sawyer cuando era pequeño pero aún hoy sigo recordando con una sonr ...more

flag 35 likes · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Do you think that the book was good?	14	130	May 01, 2020 03:51PM
Catching up on Cl...: Tom Sawyer Discussion SPOILERS	5	98	Jun 11, 2019 08:02PM
The Great America...: Tom Sawyer, Parts 4-7- March- SPOILER Thread	38	18	Mar 27, 2019 09:27PM
Play Book Tag: Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain, 5 stars	5	14	Mar 22, 2019 07:57AM
The Great America...: Tom Sawyer, Parts 1-4- March- NO Spoilers	21	25	Mar 20, 2019 08:52PM
Play Book Tag: [Listopia] The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain 3 stars and read by Nick Offerman 5 stars	8	25	Dec 03, 2018 02:33PM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

Classics

14,446 users

Fiction

5,862 users

Adventure

1,316 users

Young Adult

1,209 users

Historical > Historical Fiction

1,149 users

Literature

919 users

Childrens

763 users

Academic > School

511 users

Novels

503 users

Literature > American

451 users

See top shelves…

About Mark Twain

Mark Twain

15,123 followers

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