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Nataliya's Reviews > The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
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I was five and a half years old when my mother gave me The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as a New Year's gift (she is a literature teacher, and I have been reading novels since the tender age of four or so, and so it seemed appropriate).
Being a diligent and serious¹ child (neither of those qualities have stuck with me, unfortunately), I opened it to page 1 and started reading. I even took it with me to kindergarten, where other kids were learning letters and I was mercifully allowed to read hefty tomes, having obviously achieved full literacy by that point.
This book initially left me quite confused, but I was undeterred - after all, the world was a confusing place, full of adults and rules and great books - even those without pictures. (And I was very proud to own books without pictures, after all). But his one was just too strange - its beginning did not quite fit with the rest of the quite fun story - it was odd and dry and incomprehensible for the first 40 pages or so, and it even was about some other guy (Samuel Clemens?) who was not Tom Sawyer.
A few years later I reread my early childhood favorite (I probably reached a ripe old age of eight or so, still diligent but a bit less serious already). It was then that I figured out what seemed strange about the beginning of this book when I was five.
You see, I diligently slogged my way through the most boring academic foreword, assuming that was the first chapter. What amazes me that I managed to stay awake through it. Good job, five-year-old me! Excellent preparation for that painfully boring biochemistry course a couple of decades later!
I have told bits and pieces of this book to my friends on the playground, while dangling from the monkey bars or building sandcastles (in a sandbox, that in retrospect I suspect was used by the neighborhood stray cats as a litterbox - but I guess you have to develop immunity to germs somehow). We may have planned an escape to an island in a true Tom Sawyer fashion, but the idea fizzled. After all, we did not have an island nearby, which was a problem. Also, we may have got distracted by the afternoon cartoons.
Someday, I just may have to leave this book within a reach of my future hypothetical daughter - as long as I make sure it does not come with a long-winded boring introduction.
Being a diligent and serious¹ child (neither of those qualities have stuck with me, unfortunately), I opened it to page 1 and started reading. I even took it with me to kindergarten, where other kids were learning letters and I was mercifully allowed to read hefty tomes, having obviously achieved full literacy by that point.
¹Me (age 5) and Mom. The diligent seriousness is *all over* this picture.
This book initially left me quite confused, but I was undeterred - after all, the world was a confusing place, full of adults and rules and great books - even those without pictures. (And I was very proud to own books without pictures, after all). But his one was just too strange - its beginning did not quite fit with the rest of the quite fun story - it was odd and dry and incomprehensible for the first 40 pages or so, and it even was about some other guy (Samuel Clemens?) who was not Tom Sawyer.
A few years later I reread my early childhood favorite (I probably reached a ripe old age of eight or so, still diligent but a bit less serious already). It was then that I figured out what seemed strange about the beginning of this book when I was five.
You see, I diligently slogged my way through the most boring academic foreword, assuming that was the first chapter. What amazes me that I managed to stay awake through it. Good job, five-year-old me! Excellent preparation for that painfully boring biochemistry course a couple of decades later!
After that foreword, slogging through any classic was a comparative breeze. Yes, I'm looking at you, War and Peace! You know what you did, you endless tome.Also, as it turns out, when you include two characters named Joe in one book (Injun Joe and Tom's classmate Joe Harper) that can cause a certain amount of confusion to a five-year-old who assumes they have to be the same person and struggles really hard to reconcile their seemingly conflicting characters. And, as a side note, I have always been disappointed at Tom Sawyer tricking his friends to do the infamous fence whitewashing. A *real* kid knows after all that painting stuff is fun. Five-year-old me was a bit disapproving of the silliness.
I have told bits and pieces of this book to my friends on the playground, while dangling from the monkey bars or building sandcastles (in a sandbox, that in retrospect I suspect was used by the neighborhood stray cats as a litterbox - but I guess you have to develop immunity to germs somehow). We may have planned an escape to an island in a true Tom Sawyer fashion, but the idea fizzled. After all, we did not have an island nearby, which was a problem. Also, we may have got distracted by the afternoon cartoons.
Someday, I just may have to leave this book within a reach of my future hypothetical daughter - as long as I make sure it does not come with a long-winded boring introduction.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
January 1, 1989
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Finished Reading
May 2, 2010
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Richard
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May 11, 2014 10:10PM
Nataliya, your early introduction to the joy of reading reminds me a lot of the stories my mother told me. She was one of the younger children in a large family. Her grandparents lived in the house. Her grandfather who was bedridden because of rheumatism had a lot of time on his hands. So he taught her to read by using newspapers before she started school. Then when she actually went to school, she was often very bored because her reading level was so far above that of the rest of the class.
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Beautiful review, and it echoes my own experience with Mark Twain (Huckleberry Finn, in my case) and childhood reading in general. I still haven't read Twain as an "adult" but I almost wonder if that slightly confused childhood rememberence is better than a grown-up understanding...
What a lovely insight into 5-year-old you. A great tribute to your mother as well, and the photo is adorable. You were also fortunate that your teachers let you read books appropriate to your level. Sadly, that's not always been the case in the UK (and it may still be an issue in some schools).
Do you think this really reflects how you felt back then, or is this a trick of adulthood and time trying to reason the book?On that note, I don't want to reread some of the stuff I loved as a kid, because I fear I'll be disappointed.
Igor
I think that it's lovely that your teachers let you read novels appropriate to your comprehension skills. As a child, I vividly recall my teacher confiscating The Lord Of The Rings because it was 'a grown-up book'. Hmm.
Your precocious 5-year-old self foreshadowed your future!BTW, what is MOPЯK? It sounds very serious, too.
Cecily wrote: "What a lovely insight into 5-year-old you. A great tribute to your mother as well, and the photo is adorable. You were also fortunate that your teachers let you read books appropriate to your level..."For some reason nobody ever stopped me from reading any books I wanted, regardless of grade level. Maybe it was because by age five I've read all the picture books in my kindergarten (easy, given that it takes just a few minutes for a typical picture book), and my mother never objected therefore never giving my teachers any reason to care, and teachers wisely accepted that there was an easy way to keep a stubborn know-it-all quiet and entertained for hours while the rest of the group could carry on with the alphabet.
The idea of teachers taking a book away from a child because it is not at the child's grade level puzzles me. Isn't the role of a teacher to stimulate intellectual curiosity regardless of the age of the child?
Richard wrote: "Nataliya, your early introduction to the joy of reading reminds me a lot of the stories my mother told me. She was one of the younger children in a large family. Her grandparents lived in the house..."
My grandfather was also responsible for teaching me how to read. Like many Soviet families, we lived in a cramped little apartment: 2 bedrooms to accommodate six of us - my grandparents, my uncle, my parents and me, a stubborn and loud toddler. Grandpa started teaching me to read, partially do that I could entertain myself and not just be in everyone's way. That worked out just fine :)
Ivonne wrote: "Your precocious 5-year-old self foreshadowed your future!
BTW, what is MOPЯK? It sounds very serious, too."
That just means 'sailor'. We took this picture to send to my uncle who at that time was in the Navy, and so I had to wear a sailor suit. I remember it was hot and scratchy :(
Igor wrote: "Do you think this really reflects how you felt back then, or is this a trick of adulthood and time trying to reason the book?
On that note, I don't want to reread some of the stuff I loved as a ki..."
Yes, it's definitely how I felt back then. I have rather vivid memories of that book.
Damn, you are funny! Thank you for writing this hilarious review. It really touched me--and your last comment brought up some unexpected memories.I also read unsuitable books at a ridiculously early age. My swinging-single aunt would come from Montreal to stay with us for 6-month-long visits, strewing inappropriate literature in her wake. Since I was a voracious reader, there was nothing else in the house to read, and my parents were from Poland and didn't know enough to say no, I read "Slaughterhouse Five," "To Kill a Mockingbird," "Peyton Place," and "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" before I was nine.
Thank God for inappropriate literature at an early age, is all I can say!
Nataliya wrote: "The idea of teachers taking a book away from a child because it is not at the child's grade level puzzles me. Isn't the role of a teacher to stimulate intellectual curiosity regardless of the age of the child?"Absolutely. However, the form I've encountered and heard of isn't confiscating books, but insisting that in school, a child follows the official reading scheme/plan/levels - even if they're clearly too easy and uninteresting. They may let a child skip one or two, but it can still be very damaging. Yes, children need to learn to conform, obey and jump through hoops to some extent, but deliberately holding them back is unforgivable.
(With my son, his school were pretty good at letting him read what he wanted, but instead we had similar problems in maths, to the extent that, aged 7, he just refused to do any, being held in at playtimes, and throwing tantrums in class and at home. The teacher wouldn't let him do the extension work until he'd proved to her he could do the boringly easy stuff - all of it. We won that battle, but at some cost.)
Cecily wrote: "Nataliya wrote: "The idea of teachers taking a book away from a child because it is not at the child's grade level puzzles me. Isn't the role of a teacher to stimulate intellectual curiosity regard..."For the first few grades in school I did the required reading (which took me. A fraction of the time they thought it would), and then I would take out my 'real' book and proceed with reading what I wanted. Since it kept me quiet and non-fidgety, nobody objected or cared. School reading plan was just plain silly - plus, I would normally read all the literature textbooks and all the required reading by the second week of school or so, and so there was little else left to do.
Helen wrote: "Thank God for inappropriate literature at an early age, is all I can say!"
Agreed!
I read David Copperfield at 4½, and Dracula at somewhere around 7, but I don't remember, though, ever taking "age inappropriate" books to school. otoh, I don't recall ever being required to read "age appropriate" books IN school. What I do remember is the first time I saw Dick and Jane, and thinking "thank God they don't make us read shit like this in England!" (OK, I didn't know the word "shit" at that age). My mother says nobody ever taught me to read, and my parents didn't read to me, but I remember books from my earliest memories. I remember my father drying off Thomas The Tank Engine (a library book) after I dropped it in the bathtub — of course I read in the tub! I'll always be grateful to my parents for never once telling me that a book was inappropriate for any reason, whether because of my age or the book's content. My mother disapproved of Science Fiction: but she still bought me Against the Fall of Night and The Roads Must Roll.
Derek (Guilty of thoughtcrime) wrote: "I read David Copperfield at 4½, and Dracula at somewhere around 7, but I don't remember, though, ever taking "age inappropriate" books to school. otoh, I don't recall ever..."I think I took books with me everywhere - school included. I loved going to bookstores with my mother as she was shopping for books for her classes; I'd use this time to pick up whatever books seemed interesting and read as much of them as I could, and the hope that those books would still be unsold when I returned to the store so that I'd be able to finish them. That worked until the one particularly grumpy saleswomen yelled at me, and I decided to entirely switch to the safe haven of school library.
Maciek wrote: "Such a lovely picture!"
Thanks!
This is one of the first long books that I read as a kid. (I believe Charlotte's Webb may have been my first chapter book.) I too remember feeling obligated to read long introductions that were way above my head without any understanding of what I was doing. Fantastic review of the birth of a reader.
Steve Sckenda wrote: "This is one of the first long books that I read as a kid. (I believe Charlotte's Webb may have been my first chapter book.) I too remember feeling obligated to read long introductions that were way..."Well, hello to the fellow introductions reader!
After a few tedious introductions, I decided as a child to skip them all. It took years for me to realize that a "prologue" was actually part of the story.
As a five year old, I enjoyed painting things, as long as painting things was not described as a 'chore'.
I was 6 years old when my aunt bought me my first book, The Wizard of Oz. I was reading at a 3rd grade level in 1st grade. Back in the 60's that was unheard of. Thus began my love affair with books.
but i will read it when iam in 33ys
this is the nicest review of the book I've read, painting is fun, but tricking your teenage friends to do your chore is priceless!
Hi. It's good experience that you have read the book as a five-years old child.I envy to you. Now I am 17 years old.
In my country (Iran) the average hours of reading have been decreasing.
This sounds more like a review of yourself, and not an actual review of the book.
Tandi wrote: "This sounds more like a review of yourself, and not an actual review of the book."Yup. And?
Nataliya, I was CRACKING UP, laughing my flat butt off, reading this! Brilliant!! Oh, that precious picture of you. Is that Cyrillic on your hat?Poor you, with the Foreword. Couldn't agree more. But it just felt ... WRONG, did it not? to simply skip a chunk of writing that size, all willy nilly-like? So yeah. It made sense to read it.
And wow, that War and Peace section was hilarious. I'm so happy I stumbled upon this. So Tandi? My thanks to you for resurrecting this gem.
LOVED your review. So perceptive of you to recognize that the whitewashing part was silly, too.
I think this is the first hard-covered, gorgeous, colorful book I bought for myself (at an insanely high price, as I recall) in this U S of A. I was 10 or 11. At age 5, I had to sneak books off my mom's shelves, and read them in secret. I remember she busted me reading the one about what happens to us after we die, and she couldn't believe I'd been in her precious collection. It WAS a good one (in Poland; eventually, she had them ALL mailed here). The Gulag Archipelago was there, as I recall.
Alright, I admit it. Hi. My name is Basia, and I can't avoid tangents.
I want to start this year out different, so let me apologize for sounding rude. I sometimes say (and write) what comes to mind before I think about it. This is your review. You have every right to write what you want in it.
its heart catching..
I love this book so much so far but don't spoil the story
wow I didn't even realize that there are 2 characters named Joe until I got to the end of the book and read your review
Great review! It also reminded me of my own childhood. Even though I started reading books on my own at the age of 7(before that, I was only interested in the fairy tales my grandma and my mother read to me and my large collection of enciclopedias), I used to be that child who would always read the classics and get bored in school because, in the time that my classmates took to read 1 sentence, I would have finished the entire text 2 times. My brother and sister however were more open to literature, because of the fact that our mother would read them one novel after the other. So, by the age of 6, they would have listened to all the fairy tales we could get our hands on(more than 10 books), "Robinson Crusoe", "Nobody's Boy"(by Hector Malot), "Treasure Island" and many others.
was this book hard to read because of the old english language?
Emma wrote: "was this book hard to read because of the old english language?"It’s not Old English; it’s 19th century and so makes no difference for reading.
This is a wonderful review. My mother accidentally/on purpose gave all my precious books to a neighbor for her garage sale. I decided to search for copies of the books to give to my grandkids when they get older. I loved the old Whitman Publishing books ~ Tom Sawyer, Wizard of Oz, Black Beauty, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, etc. They gave me so much joy as a child. I, too, was reading chapter books at an insanely young age.
another classic by mark twain one of the best novels i read so I will reveiw it 3 out of 5
huckleberry finns chacter was more impressive than tom sawyer but to.s luck is great he is at the exact placeat exact time
At 5 you could read Tom sawyer! I am so curious about your later education background. Could you share it with me , Thank you so much.
leo lee wrote: "At 5 you could read Tom sawyer! I am so curious about your later education background. Could you share it with me , Thank you so much."I went on to University and post-graduate education.
This is a funny story, but I give it 1 star.Why? you ask
I think this book should be a book for adults.
I believe that it is inappropriate for kids age under 13.
Why??? 🤔
Because the the child in the story (Tom Sawyer) dose some very bad and naughty things I can inspire kids to do the same
I didn't like it at all😢😢😢😢😭😭
Kallina wrote: "This is a funny story, but I give it 1 star.Why? you ask
I think this book should be a book for adults.
I believe that it is inappropriate for kids age under 13.
Why??? 🤔
Because the the child ..."
I don’t think it was meant to be a children’s book although it often is pegged as such. I think it was a book about childhood but not really aimed at kids under 13.
Hi Nataliya, a great review (and also hilarious). I applaud your mother for not limiting you to literature deemed to be "adequate" for kindergarten kids. My mother did the same for us, and my parents let me read whatever I was interested in from their extensive book collection. This is a key reason for my love of reading. I then only "learned" in school that I knew things that I was not supposed to know at that age...
Westerly wrote: "Hi Nataliya, a great review (and also hilarious). I applaud your mother for not limiting you to literature deemed to be "adequate" for kindergarten kids. My mother did the same for us, and my paren..."I’m glad that your parents also had the “live and let live” approach to books. Parents who obsessively curate their children’s reading choices lest they come across anything “inappropriate” just make me sad.
I do get tired of all these reviews on this site that persist in giving a recap of the plot, life history of the author and little personal response - we all read the book, we just need opinions for the reviews. So reading your incredibly personal response to the book, your own memories of it, was interesting, refreshing and made me smile. Thanks for this review, it was nice to read.I should just respond to something you said in reply to other comments though. The book was actually intended for kids by Mark Twain, he says as much in his own introduction to the book, but we have to remember when it was written, the target audience were Americans many generations ago in a very different world. Some of the horrible stuff we balk at was normal for them - lots of playing with dead cats, for example. So modern audiences might have to think of that when judging the reading level and appropriateness.
