Book Report

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was one of the first stories that I remember reading. The mischievous boy from St. Petersburg, Missouri and his gang of friends and their adventures fascinated me. I still have my original hardback; its corners are tattered, the spine is loose, and its pages have yellowed with age—read, re-read and loved.

When I put my list together, I knew that I had to do something that showed my affection and respect for writers. Their stories have taken me on some of my greatest imaginary adventures. There are days when I think that I could loll in the corner of a room and read until dark. Nerdy? Some may think so. But I don’t. Nope. Not one bit. Books inspire, educate, change the world; the greatest novels were not written for money nor glory nor fame (although all of those things are certain to make any writer exuberant and willing to produce more), but rather to share a story that might touch the world the way it moves the writer in the alleys of his or her mind’s eye. Books are some of life’s greatest teachers.

As a child, I unearthed treasures like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Encyclopedia Brown, and The Boxcar Children; teenage angst taught me about true love in Pride and Prejudice and Romeo and Juliet, social injustice in To Kill a Mockingbird and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and classic must-reads like The Great Gatsby, A Farewell to Arms, and Jane Eyre.

Then as an adult, my appreciation for literature changed. I no longer read books just for leisure, nor did I read them just to discover parts of the world I understood little. I read them to learn how to be a better writer. All of my writer friends can attest to this fact. Yes. Let me say it again. I read in order to be a better writer. Don’t get me wrong, I still love the satisfaction of a brilliant story; but it’s more than that now. I want to be able to tell my tales in ways that stir my readers the way I have been moved by others’ writings. And so now, every book that I flip through tells me how to improve my art—some teach me because the work is, in my opinion, faultless. Others show me what not to do (which is often more valuable than the do’s that seem impossible to emulate).

As part of my resolutions, I decided to go to the places that inspired some of America’s greatest writers. So came the trip to Hannibal, Missouri—the childhood home of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, the writer I chose for the 2010 list. He is, of course, best known by his penname, Mark Twain—fantastical, witty and most beloved. I later found out by accident, luck, star alignment—whichever you choose to believe in—that 2010 is the year of Mark Twain. Ahh, perfection.

Before telling you about my adventure to Hannibal, I want to recap the great American novel, Tom Sawyer—a little dusting off of the story that captured my heart as a child, and then again as an adult when I reread it for this project. In order to fully appreciate the people and streets that inspired Mark Twain, we need to remember snippets of the novel that continue to breathe in the city that inspired it all.

Tom Sawyer is a twelve-year-old boy who lives with his Aunt Polly, brother Sid and cousin Mary in St. Petersburg, Missouri—a small made-up town along the Mississippi River. He has little attention for school, and instead muses the day with plans to get out of his chores; trade his trinkets with friends; master the art of piracy; and win the heart of his beloved, Becky Thatcher.

Early in the novel, the readers are introduced to Tom’s trickery as he convinces his classmates to fulfill his punishment: they get to whitewash the fence in his place and he gets to be the new owner of their treasures (some of which aren’t such treasures to anyone other than a twelve-year-old boy—a half eaten apple, a dead rat, a couple of tadpoles, a dog-collar-but no dog, four pieces of orange peel, and a key that wouldn’t unlock anything). As the story progresses, we meet Huck Finn—the son of the town drunk and the boy every kid in St. Petersburg wants to befriend. One night, the two sneak out and go to the town graveyard where they witness Injun Joe commit a murder; the two make a pact sealed in blood to never speak a word about what they’ve seen to anyone.

We also discover Tom’s love for Becky Thatcher—the new girl in town to whom Tom proposes. She accepts, only to turn on him after discovering that this is not Tom’s first proposal. Tom is dejected and heartbroken, and runs away with Joe Harper and Huck Finn to Jackson Island to begin his career as a pirate. They educate themselves on the skills of piracy, all the while knowing that their loved ones believe them to be dead, drowned in the Mississippi. Tom comes up with a plan to show up at their funerals and “surprise everyone” in town, becoming the envy of all of their friends.

Later, Tom and Huck go searching for buried treasure in a haunted house. They hide after hearing some noises and then spy Injun Joe enter the house where he finds a box of hidden gold. Huck follows him in an attempt to take the gold and discovers that Injun Joe has plotted to attack the Widow Douglas.

In the midst of Huck’s pursuit to stop Injun Joe, Tom and Becky get lost in a cave. As they begin to run out of food and candles, they discover that Injun Joe is using the cave as his hideout. Tom eventually finds a way out and is hailed as a hero. Injun Joe is not so lucky; he perishes in the cave. Huck and Tom find the gold, Huck is adopted by the Widow Douglas, and Tom forms a robber band so that his adventures can go on.

This story gives way to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the next of Mark Twain’s classic novels. This one, however, has deeper, racial undertones that tell of a boy running away with a slave along the Mississippi River in search of freedom. It is a phenomenal story that has been carved in history. I last read it five years ago and so I will not summarize it here now. But, it is on my "to read" list so that I can revisit the tale once more.

I want to end with a Mark Twain quote that seems so in line with the mission of this blog:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Here's to exploring, dreaming and discovering. If I had a glass of champagne in my hand, I would lift it in toast.

Now for my adventure to Hannibal...