In this classic story, Mark Twain re-created a long-ago world of freshly whitewashed fences and Sunday school picnics into which sordid characters and violent incidents sometimes intruded. The tale powerfully appeals to both adult and young imaginations. Mark Twain's lively tale of the scrapes and adventures of boyhood is set in St. Petersburg, Missouri, where Tom Sawyer and his friend Huckleberry Finn had the kinds of adventures many boys can imagine—racing bugs during class, impressing girls, with fights and stunts in the schoolyard, getting lost in a cave, and playing pirates on the Mississippi river. With its hilarious accounts of boyish pranks and its shrewd assessments of human nature, 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' has captivated generations of readers of all ages. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He wrote 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which provided the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. After an apprenticeship with a printer, he worked as a typesetter and contributed articles to the newspaper of his older brother Orion Clemens. He later became a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River before heading west to join Orion in Nevada. He referred humorously to his singular lack of success at mining, turning to journalism for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. In 1865, his humorous story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," was published, based on a story he heard at Angels Hotel in Angels Camp, California, where he had spent some time as a miner. The short story brought international attention, and was even translated into classic Greek. His wit and satire, in prose and in speech, earned praise from critics and peers, and he was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty.