LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI is Mark Twain's adventurous account of life as a riverboat pilot--his actual experiences which inspired the classic works of America's best storyteller. The people and places, the humour and challenges of life on the mighty Mississippi come alive as riverboat pilot Samuel Clemens recounts his wonder-filled days, written under literature's most famous pen name--Mark Twain.

THE ADVENTURES OF Tom Sawyer is the world's most popular boyhood story. Based on Mark Twain's younger years in Hannibal, Missouri, Tom Sawyer is the universal boy. He skips school to go fishing, falls in love with Becky Thatcher, disobeys his Aunt Polly, and gets lost with his friend Huck Finn only to return home in time for their own funeral. Tom's adventures are as much a part of American literature as youth is a part of every person's life.

THE ADVENTURES OF HUCK FINN is a fantastic voyage down the Mississippi River on a raft with Huck and Jim, the freed slave. Together, the two live out every fantasy of free men. No adventure can turn back Huck and Jim. Not family feuds, or snakes, or the social injustices which threaten to enslave Jim once again. As funny as it is fantastic--Mark Twain at his very best.

THE TRAGEDY OF Pudd'nhead Wilson is one of literature's first detective stories. Twain's story is of a man who appears in a town and is taken for a fool, a Pudd'nhead--until crime strikes and Wilson is no longer the fool he once seemed. With Twain's inimitable ingenuity and humour, it is Wilson who turns out to be the sly detective.

THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER is the most renowned piece of historical fiction. Set in the England of King Henry VIII and King Edward VI, Twain weaves a story of mistaken identities and comical errors. The result is a humorous story for young and old which pokes fun at the social structure of Tudor England and entertains at the same time.

Plus 15 short stories and essays which comprise an array of Twain's American lore. From his "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," the first story to establish Twain as an important writer, to "Extracts from Adam's Diary" this collection offers selections of Twain as reporter, as humorist, and as essayist--but always as America's best-loved storyteller.
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