The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

By Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)

This book has many chapters. Each chapter tells about a new adventure that Tom Sawyer has. The book also has many pictures inside it.

A Note From the Author

Most of the adventures in this book really happened. One or two happened to me. The rest happened to boys I went to school with.

Huck Finn is based on a real boy. Tom Sawyer is not based on just one real boy. He is made up of parts from three boys I knew. So Tom is a mix of real kids.

The strange beliefs and superstitions in this story were common among children (and among enslaved people) in the West a long time ago — about thirty or forty years before this book was written.

I wrote this book mostly for boys and girls to enjoy. But I hope grown-ups will read it too. I want it to remind them of what they were like when they were young — how they felt, thought, and talked, and the funny things they used to do.

— The Author, Hartford, 1876

Chapter 1

"Tom!"

No answer.

"TOM!"

No answer.

"Where has that boy gone? TOM!"

Still no answer.

The old woman pushed her glasses down her nose and looked over the top of them around the room. Then she pushed them back up and looked out from under them. She almost never looked through them to find something as small as a boy. These were her fancy glasses. She wore them to look nice, not to see well.

She looked confused for a moment. Then she said, not too loudly, but loud enough that the furniture could hear:

"Well, if I catch you, I'll—"

She didn't finish. She was too busy bending down and poking her broom under the bed. She needed her breath for poking, not talking. All she found under there was the cat.

"I have never seen a boy like that one!"

She walked to the open door and looked out at the garden. No Tom. So she lifted her voice as loud as she could and shouted:

"Y-o-u-u TOM!"

Just then, she heard a small noise behind her. She turned around fast and grabbed a boy by the back of his jacket before he could run away.

"There! I should have checked that closet. What were you doing in there?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? Then look at your hands. Look at your mouth. What is that mess?"

"I don't know, Aunt Polly."

"Well, I know. That's jam. I have told you forty times — leave that jam alone, or I'll spank you. Hand me that switch."

(A switch is a thin stick used for a light spanking.)

The switch went up in the air. Tom was in trouble.

"Look out behind you, Aunt Polly!"

The old woman spun around fast, grabbing her skirt out of the way. In that one second, Tom ran off. He climbed over the tall fence and disappeared.

Aunt Polly stood there, surprised. Then she started to laugh softly.

"That boy! Won't I ever learn? He has tricked me like this so many times. I should know better by now. But I guess old people can be foolish too. You can't teach an old dog new tricks, they say. But he never plays the same trick twice — how am I supposed to guess what he'll do next? He seems to know exactly how long he can bother me before I get really angry. And if he can make me laugh, even for one second, I can't stay mad at him.

I am not doing my job as his aunt, that's the truth. The Bible says if you don't punish a child, you spoil them. I know I'm making trouble for both of us. He's full of mischief, but oh well — he's my own dead sister's boy. I just don't have the heart to punish him hard. Every time I let him off easy, I feel guilty. Every time I punish him, my heart hurts too.

The Bible says people don't live very long and have lots of trouble — and I guess that's true! He'll skip school again this afternoon, I bet. So tomorrow, I'll make him work as punishment. I know it's hard to make him work on a Saturday when other boys get to play. But work is the thing he hates most. So I have to make him do some of it, or I'll spoil him completely."

Tom did skip school that afternoon, and he had a great time doing it.

He got home just in time to help Jim, a young boy who worked for the family. Tom was supposed to help saw wood and split kindling (small sticks) before dinner. Really though, Tom just told Jim about his adventures while Jim did almost all the work himself.

Tom's younger brother, Sid, had already finished his own job of picking up wood chips. Sid was a quiet boy who never got into any trouble or had any adventures.

While Tom ate his dinner and snuck bites of sugar when he could, Aunt Polly asked him tricky questions. She was trying to catch him in a lie. Like a lot of simple, good-hearted people, she liked to think she was clever and sneaky. She was proud of her tricky questions, even though they were easy to see through. She said:

"Tom, it was pretty warm at school today, wasn't it?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Very warm, right?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Didn't you want to go swimming, Tom?"

Tom felt a little worried. He looked at Aunt Polly's face, but it didn't give anything away. So he said:

"No, ma'am — well, not really."

Aunt Polly reached out and felt his shirt. "But you're not too warm now," she said. She felt clever, thinking she had found proof his shirt was dry — without Tom noticing what she was doing.

But Tom understood exactly what she was up to. So he got ahead of her:

"Some of us poured water on our heads. See? Mine's still wet."

Aunt Polly was annoyed. She had missed that clue. Then she thought of something else.

"Tom, did you have to open your shirt collar — the one I sewed shut — to pour water on your head? Unbutton your jacket!"

The worried look left Tom's face. He opened his jacket. His shirt collar was still sewn shut, just like she had left it.

"Well, go on then," she said.