Book 10 - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

It's been years since I'd read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Twain, so I decided I'd better give it a quick reread before discussing it with my 11yo DD.

Tom Sawyer is a mischievous boy being raised by his aunt in a Mississippi River town.  He's the typical rough and tumble adventurous type who would rather be in the woods than in school, can lick every boy in town, and is looked up to as a natural leader.  He convinces the neighborhood boys to part with their "treasures" in order to whitewash his aunt's fence for him and trades his gains for enough Sunday school tickets to earn a Bible without suffering the hassle of memorizing all the Scripture verses normally required.  After Becky, the girl he likes, gets angry with him, he decides to run away to a nearby island with two other boys to play pirates for a few days.  They return just in time for their own funeral.  Still Tom also has a more noble side with a strong conscious as well.  He takes the blame and the accompanying whipping from the schoolteacher in place of Becky after she accidentally rips a page in the teacher's book, and he saves the life of Muff Potter by taking the stand to explain that the murder he was accused of was actually committed by Injun Joe.  He and Huck Finn make their fortune finding a treasure chest that Injun Joe had discovered and taken from an abandoned house, and afterwards Tom convinces Huck that he should return to the widow's house to live where he is well taken care of in order to be part of Tom's gang of gentlemen robbers.

This is definitely a must read classic tale of fun for ages 10 and up (although I might wait an extra year or so for my mischievous boys so that they don't pick up any new ideas).