The beginning of all the Tom and Huck adventures, with the boy Tom Sawyer who befriends Huck Finn, and creates mischief all over town and in school, before coming into a large fortune of money.

I enjoyed this story more than I did Adventures of Huck Finn, however they were both about the same, except one boy is mannered and the other is wild, and their adventures of are different sorts.

It’s hard to see why this one didn’t make it on the 1,001 Books list when Huck Finn did, as they are both amazing journey’s.

This novel is full of high adventure of the kind that has disappeared for most children today. Tom and friends are full of imaginative play that they carry out in the wooded areas around their town. They play hooky and trade in junk and have all kinds of superstitious explanations for the world around them. While this book doesn't have any profound themes, it pictures of way of life, mostly gone, in such vivid detail that it seems to come to life again. ( )

Very Good, well written and funny. There is a reason why it is a classic. ( )

Synopsis:

Tom Sawyer is a naughty boy from St. Petersburg (fictional), Missouri, who is always engaged in troublesome adventures with his friends, specially with Huckleberry Finn, causing her Aunt Polly to go mad. He lazily attends school and never misses a chance to be envied by his schoolmates for his heroic mischiefs. Despite his misbehavior, he's a good-hearted young man.

Personal Opinion:

What a read! I was a great fan of the animated series when I was a child (and nowadays, of course) but had never read the book. I was really looking forward to do it, and when the moment came I was trully moved by the story, its characters and everything. That's what I call a masterpiece!

The book is structured in chapters that can be seen as almost independent stories. Every chapter deals with different adventures based on situations lived by some of the author's schoolmates. Actually, Mark Twain based the boys on this novel on some of them, sometimes merging two or three boys into one.

Tom, as a character, brings you back to the days when all of us were dreaming all day long about doing fantastic things; those times when petty troubles seemed to turn your life into something miserable. That's a feeling commonly reflected during the novel, and it's as genuine as a three dollar bill.

In addition, the dialogs are boyish (as it must be) and doesn't fail to present the reader with the social reality of those days (back in the 19th Century). Slavery is not a main point in this novel, but it's easy to grasp its social consideration.

Being a classic as it is, there's not a lot to say about Tom Sawyer that hasn't yet been said. I'd like to quote the author, though, who on the preface points that: "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 what queer enterprises they sometimes engaged in." Mission more than accomplished Mr. Twain. Henceforth: ( )

A wonderful novel that in some ways reads like short stories. Tom is always breaking the rules, scamming and cheating, but benignly and never malevolently. He is a wonderful boy that reminds adults what it should be like to be a child.