Mark Twain and the River

Tom Sawyer is among the best-known, most-loved characters in American fiction. As everyone remembers, he and Huck Finn camped on an island, got lost in a cave, and visited an old graveyard at midnight. These adventures were based upon the author's real boyhood experiences along the Mississippi River. Trace Mark Twain's life from 1835, when his birth was heralded by Halley's Comet, to 1910, when the comet returned upon his death, in this fascinating biography by Newbery Honor author Sterling North.

Tom Sawyer is among the best-known, most-loved characters in American fiction. As everyone remembers, he and Huck Finn camped on an island, got lost in a cave, and visited an old graveyard at midnight. These adventures were based upon the author's real boyhood experiences along the Mississippi River. Trace Mark Twain's life from 1835, when his birth was heralded by Halley's Comet, to 1910, when the comet returned upon his death, in this fascinating biography by Newbery Honor author Sterling North.

Children's Literature

This re-issued, engaging biography follows Sam Clemens as he becomes Mark Twain, one of our heroes of storytelling. North admires Twain greatly. While some of the details of the stories could be questioned—did North really find documents showing telling us, for example, where Sam sat on the wagon, and what his uncle said when he came in the door?—the standard for biographies was different in 1961 when this book was originally published. North uses these details to bring us up close to Clemens. Like the protagonist in any story, we cheer for Clemens' achievements, grieve for his setbacks and listen to North, the kindly narrator, explain that the best is yet to come. For example, he writes: "How could any of Sam's teachers know, as the heavy switch fell and fell again, that their only immortality would be a mention or two in the future books written by the boy they were beating?" Sam, who was not yet Mark Twain, kept his genius well hidden. So we have to keep reading until it is revealed. Reviewer: Amy S. Hansen

Sterling North (1906—1974) was awarded a Newbery Honor for the autobiographical Rascal.