Tom Sawyer Abroad (Watermill Classic)

Summary: This rollicking adventure novel brings back Twain's best-loved characters -- Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, and the freed slave Jim -- for a balloon trip around the world. Escaping civilization and Aunt Polly once again, this exhilarating tale of far-off exploits is, as Twain wrote, "a story that will not only interest boys but any man who has ever been a boy, which immensely enlarges the audience." Ranging from comic tall tales and bold escapades, as when Tom rescues a child from brigands, to a series of lively conversations among the three friends on topics from the Crusades and the limitations of maps, to religious toleration and racial discrimination, to the fine art of cursing, Tom Sawyer Abroad is a truly delightful book. At the same time, it is an often moving and serious story, as when the trio finds a caravan of corpses -- victims of a sandstorm -- or observes a bloody battle from the air. "There's a good deal more to Mark Twain than laughs," as Nat Hentoff observes in his thoughtful introduction. Tom Sawyer Abroad is sure to provide plenty of laughs, and a good deal more as well.