I'm sure I've read this in the past but I have no idea when that was. This time I read this to the two big kids (8 and 10 yrs old) and I know I enjoyed it more as a read-aloud than I would have by myself. For one, the dialogue is a lot of fun and I really like doing voices.
It's also fun to be able to read it and see the bigger pictures of what Twain is trying to say (less so in this than Huck Finn but he still has his points to make) while the kids are enjoying it on a more face-value, but no less enjoyable, level. They just fell apart laughing at the school-teacher episode or the playing pirates chapter and were wide-eyes when Tom and Becky were in the cave.
Also, boys have been boys from the beginning of time. Having my own boy who does not see the point in showers or full sets of clothing and who is kind hearted and hard working but also completely willing to trick his sibling into doing his work for him brought a motherly level of humor to this selection - especially read to said boy and watching him scoff at the same antics in others.
Overall, it reminded me that before classics were "classics" they were just books that people liked. Ones kids read because they wanted to not because they were supposed to. I'd be a bit sad to leave it behind but we have A Christmas Carol and some Tolkien's Christmas letters to get to so I don't have time to miss it. But I'll put in back on the shelf to be read again to all the kids in a few years.
The Adventures of Tom Saywer is my Back to the Classics 19th Century Classic selection.
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