Tom Sawyer

All my life, at least as far back as I could remember reading, my grandmother has been telling me to read Tom Sawyer. I've always avoided it, thinking it was some sort of book the teachers say you ought to read. Well, just after finishing a book by another classic author, I went searching through the pile of unread books overpowering my book shelf and found this book I didn't know we had. I decided the time had come to read some Mark Twain.

There's a reason this book is around after 150 years, the writing flowed so well my eyes almost found themselves reading the next sentence before the first was finished. I made it a goal to read 50 pages of it a day, and easily did so, sometimes reading more. I don't like to think I'm picky, but I am, and it's only every so often I find a book I have trouble putting down, but I had trouble not picking this one up when I did manage to stop for a bit.

Each chapter is a short story in it's own right, conveying an idea about the way people think. The classic example in the story is the painting of the white fence. With this "task" set before him, Tom didn't want to do it, but when he was able to convince the neighboring children that it was a game, the very same daunting "task" became a fun event that the kids couldn't stay away from, painting another two coats of paint after the first was done.

Each story, or chapter, started with what seemed to be no relation to the others; but as the book progressed, they all became more and more dependent on each other until, by the very end you realize that every word you read was a completely necessary part of the story.

I'm glad I pulled this one from the shelf and gave it a shot after so many years, and will certainly guide my grandchildren to these words, if the day ever comes.