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This novel is an idyllic chronicle of boyhood, born out of memories Mark Twain held of himself as a barefooted boy in a small southern town on the Mississippi River in mid-nineteenth-century America. His mother became Aunt Polly, and the friends and adults he knew served as models for the other characters. In the introduction to the novel, Twain tells readers that he wrote Tom Sawyer not only “for the entertainment of boys and girls” but also to “pleasantly remind adults of what they once were themselves.” Its major appeal is to young boys who, feeling confined and restricted, wish they could be like Tom and camp in the woods or on an uninhabited island, track down stolen treasure, or play at pirates and robbers. At the same time, adults see in Tom the conventional high-spirited child, bad but always loveable, the living embodiment of a love of freedom and fun that they more than envy.
Students focus on elements of fiction (characters, conflict, setting, language, point of view, plot) as well as decision making. A concluding lesson encourages students to view the novel holistically and to use higher level thinking skills to assess and personalize what they have read.
Supplementary materials include essay topics and several assessment ideas, such as a writing portfolio and a newspaper project.
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