Books with title The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is considered by many to be the greatest of all American novels. This sequel to Twain's "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," is a first person narrative told by its title character. The novel picks up where "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" leaves off. Huck Finn who is now wealthy with the discovery of treasure at the end of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" finds himself in great danger from his abusive drunkard father who wishes to cash in on Huck's fortune. Fearing for his life Huck believes that he must run away from his home with the Widow Douglas and her Sister, Miss Watson. Huck fakes his own death and escapes to Jackson's Island. There he finds Miss Watson's escaped slave, Jim. Together they escape down the Mississippi River on a raft. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is a story told in the time of slavery with language that embodies the regional dialects that are common to Twain's work and the Mississippi River Valley in which Twain grew up. The novel is as much a biting and satirical commentary on slavery, religion, and civilized society as it is a light-hearted comedy and buddy travel story through Midwestern 19th century America.

To escape from his abusive father, 13-year-old Huckleberry Finn fakes his own death and floats away on a raft down the Mississippi with Jim, a runaway slave. In a series of unforgettable adventures narrated by Huck, they encounter a cross-section of characters from slave-hunters, thieves and conmen to feuding aristocrats and even some relatives of Tom Sawyer. Ground-breaking in its vernacular English language, it is still considered one of the great American novels of all-time and a rite of passage for any fiction reader.

Mark Twain’s characters are surprising, unforgettable and truly human. The character Huckleberry Finn is based on one of Twain’s childhood friends. Twain writes "In Huckleberry Finn I have drawn Tom Blankenship exactly as he was. He was ignorant, unwashed, insufficiently fed; but he had as good a heart as ever any boy had. His liberties were totally unrestricted. He was the only really independent person—boy or man—in the community, and by consequence he was tranquilly and continuously happy and envied by the rest of us. And as his society was forbidden us by our parents, the prohibition trebled and quadrupled its value, and therefore we sought and got more of his society than any other boy's." It is little surprise then that children are perennially drawn to Huck and his adventures. The dialogue faithfully reproduces the common speech of his day. Twain explains, “In this book a number of dialects are used, to wit: the Missouri negro dialect; the extremest form of the backwoods Southwestern dialect; the ordinary ‘Pike County’ dialect; and four modified varieties of this last. The shadings have not been done in a haphazard fashion, or by guesswork; but painstakingly, and with the trustworthy guidance and support of personal familiarity with these several forms of speech.” The plot combines adventure, suspense and mischief with the darker side of humanity: murder, deceit, brutality and racial prejudice. It is a great adventure story and much more, enlivened by Twain’s trademark humor and observations of human nature.Mark Twain, the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910) was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was lauded as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced,” and William Faulkner called him "the father of American literature". This original edition contains E. W. Kemble’s 174 original illustrations and the original cover. Twain’s record of reported speech precisely captures the language of the Antebellum South, and so, as one might expect, there are words that are unacceptable today. Since times have changed, these have been also been changed, but otherwise the text is original.

Mark Twain’s characters are surprising, unforgettable and truly human. The character Huckleberry Finn is based on one of Twain’s childhood friends. Twain writes "In Huckleberry Finn I have drawn Tom Blankenship exactly as he was. He was ignorant, unwashed, insufficiently fed; but he had as good a heart as ever any boy had. His liberties were totally unrestricted. He was the only really independent person—boy or man—in the community, and by consequence he was tranquilly and continuously happy and envied by the rest of us. And as his society was forbidden us by our parents, the prohibition trebled and quadrupled its value, and therefore we sought and got more of his society than any other boy's." It is little surprise then that children are perennially drawn to Huck and his adventures. The dialogue faithfully reproduces the common speech of his day. Twain explains, “In this book a number of dialects are used, to wit: the Missouri negro dialect; the extremest form of the backwoods Southwestern dialect; the ordinary ‘Pike County’ dialect; and four modified varieties of this last. The shadings have not been done in a haphazard fashion, or by guesswork; but painstakingly, and with the trustworthy guidance and support of personal familiarity with these several forms of speech.” The plot combines adventure, suspense and mischief with the darker side of humanity: murder, deceit, brutality and racial prejudice. It is a great adventure story and much more, enlivened by Twain’s trademark humor and observations of human nature.Mark Twain, the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910) was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was lauded as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced,” and William Faulkner called him "the father of American literature". This original edition contains E. W. Kemble’s 174 original illustrations and the original cover. Twain’s record of reported speech precisely captures the language of the Antebellum South, and so, as one might expect, there are words that are unacceptable today. Since times have changed, these have been also been changed, but otherwise the text is original.

The classic boyhood adventure tale in a beautiful Deluxe Edition illustrated by Lilli CarreMark Twain's tale of a boy's picaresque journey down the Mississippi on a raft conveyed the voice and experience of the American frontier as no other work had done before. When Huck escapes from his drunken father and the 'sivilizing' Widow Douglas with the runaway slave Jim, he embarks on a series of adventures that draw him to feuding families and the trickery of the unscrupulous 'Duke' and 'Dauphin'. Beneath the exploits, however, are more serious undercurrents - of slavery, adult control and, above all, of Huck's struggle between his instinctive goodness and the corrupt values of society, which threaten his deep and enduring friendship with Jim.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is a masterpiece of world literature. Narrated by Huck himself in his artless vernacular, it tells of his voyage down the Mississippi with a runaway slave named Jim. As the two journey downstream on a raft, Huck's vivid descriptions capture the sights, smells, sounds, and rhythms of life on the great river. As they encounter traveling actors, con men, lynch mobs, thieves, and Southern gentility, his shrewd comments reveal the dark side of human nature. By the end of the story, Huck has learned about the dignity and worth of human life and Twain has exposed the moral blindness of the "respectable" slave-holding society in which he lives. Huckleberry Finn was Twain's greatest creation.

Huckleberry Finn, rebel against school and church, casual inheritor of gold treasure, rafter of the Mississippi, and savior of Jim the runaway slave, is the archetypal American maverick. Fleeing the respectable society that wants to "sivilize" him, Huck Finn shoves off with Jim on a rhapsodic raft journey down the Mississippi River. The two bind themselves to one another, becoming intimate friends and agreeing "there warn't no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft." As Huck learns about love, responsibility, and morality, the trip becomes a metaphoric voyage through his own soul, culminating in the glorious moment when he decides to "go to hell" rather than return Jim to slavery. Mark Twain defined classic as "a book which people praise and don't read"; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a happy exception to his own rule. Twain's mastery of dialect, coupled with his famous wit, has made Huckleberry Finn one of the most loved and distinctly American classics ever written.

Huckleberry Finn had a tough life with his drunk father until an adventure with Tom Sawyer changed everything. But when Huck's dad returns and kidnaps him, he must escpe down the Mississippi river with runaway slave, Jim. They encounter trouble at every turn, from floods and gunfights to armed bandits and the long arm of the law. Through it all the friends stick together - but can Huck and Tom free Jim from slavery once and for all? With an inspirational introduction by Darren Shan, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the twenty wonderful classic stories being relaunched in Puffin Classics in March 2015.