Adventures of Huckleberry Fin
By: Mark Twain
Historical Fiction
This book
is about a young boy named Huck, who is in search of freedom and adventure. The
Mississippi River provide the perfect setting for the entirety of this book.
Huck is
kidnapped by his drunk father, Pap. Huck won 6,000 dollars, and Pap kidnapped
him to get that money. This is the 6,000 dollars Huck and Tom Sawyer earned by
finding treasure. Huck finally finds a way of escape by discovering a canoe to
go down the river in. Instead of going back to where he was before, Huck runs
away. He comes across Jim, a slave of Miss Watson, and they both run away down
the river together.
Traveling
on the raft together, Huck and Jim have various adventures and long talks about
life. They truly become best friends. They find a house with a dead man, they
steal together, they find a wrecked ship, and even encounter murderers. They
get separated from one another for a while in the fog, but end up meeting
again. Then they again get separated after their raft get wrecked by a steamboat.
Huck has a run-in with the Shepherdsons and the Grangerfords, and then is
quickly reunited with Jim after this. Together they meet the King and the Duke,
but get into some trouble playing around. Jim is sold by the king, and ends up
at Tom Sawyer’s Aunts house where Tom and Huck are able to rescue him.
In all of
these adventures Huck learns many life lessons, and in the end becomes a better
person.
This is a very long book, therefore I think I would
designate it to older students at least in Junior high. I remember reading this
as a kid and not liking it very much, because I thought it was boring. Reading it
again as an adult, I understand things better, and could actually follow along
with the story. I’m not sure that I would use this in my class because I didn’t
have good experience with it in school, but if I pondered on different ways to
bring the book to life maybe it would work.
Definitely for older students -- also be aware that this book has been banned in many schools.
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