Have you ever read a book that seemed to delve right into your childhood self? Man, Tom Sawyer does that for me. Especially the pieces where the kids get in trouble and imagine dying for the revenge of their death on their parents.
I used to do that. What a little brat I was. My brothers totally ran about the neighborhood digging up who knows what… These exaggerated adventures of kids are exciting versions of the childhood I got in the 80s. I never dug up treasure, but you know…the same free spirit existed. What adventures will our kids have with the too real bad guys and the not-real-enough buried treasures and let alone unsupervised rafts for the kids to play on?
Tom all grown up.
Me all grown up. I think Tom turned out better. 🙂
These kids are awful. As a parent myself, I wish my little ones could have the same adventures all the while knowing if they disappeared until their funeral, I’d kill them for realzies. But what a genius of a moment right? Bravo, Mark Twain. Tom is fantastic. Huck is hilarious. Sid, the little tattle-tale, is awful and wonderful. I love how Becky tortures Tom. Don’t you? Don’t you love how she’s a tiny thing and manipulates the heck out of Tom? But what could be more romantic that Tom taking her beating? Especially with the giant crap that Tom was… And don’t you love the revenge on the teacher? Gilding his head and stealing his wig during the middle of the school event? What about the boys’s superstitions? Perfection.
And the treasure at the end? Perfect ending, perfect conclusion to a childhood story. Treasure! Awesome!
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is utterly brilliant. Again. I remembered loving it. But, hey, I’ve loved other books previously that are shameful to me now. Anyhoo, can’t wait to jump into Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer Abroad and Tom Sawyer, Detective. Too bad I keep forgetting to download them to my Audible app.
You know what I’d love to read? The adventures of the grown up Tom. He’s not a boy who’d have stayed in that tiny little town. I can totally buy how the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen made him all kick-butt. I think I’m in book crush with my fantasy version of grown up Tom. Sort of a sexy, Robert Downey Jr does Sherlock Holmes hero, but with less analysis and more bravado. I’m gonna go with rippling muscles, but not He-Man style, sort of Daniel Craig in the Bond movies style. Probably also with the piercing blue eyes. And also clearly with the spark of adventure in those blue, blue eyes.
Fun, just fun!!!
~Amanda
PS – Editor update. Tamson Weston has my book in her hands. She’s a NYC editor with experience at real, big-deal publishing houses. I’m so excited to work with her to make my book better. Maybe even great.
Probably great. Almost certainly great.
I mean…obviously.
Amanda A. Allen 