The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Color Illustrated, Formatted for E-readers

Publisher Marketing: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (or, in more recent editions, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) is a novel by Mark Twain, first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. Commonly named among the Great American Novels, the work is among the first in major American literature to be written throughout in vernacular English, characterized by local color regionalism. It is told in the first person by Huckleberry "Huck" Finn, a friend of Tom Sawyer and narrator of two other Twain novels (Tom Sawyer Abroad and Tom Sawyer, Detective). It is a direct sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The book is noted for its colorful description of people and places along the Mississippi River. Set in a Southern antebellum society that had ceased to exist about twenty years before the work was published, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an often scathing satire on entrenched attitudes, particularly racism. Perennially popular with readers, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has also been the continued object of study by literary critics since its publication. It was criticized upon release because of its coarse language and became even more controversial in the 20th century because of its perceived use of racial stereotypes and because of its frequent use of the racial slur "nigger," despite strong arguments that the protagonist and the tenor of the book are anti-racist. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn explores notions of race and identity. An obvious complexity exists concerning Jim's character. While some scholars point out that Jim is good-hearted, moral, and not unintelligent (in pointed contrast to several of the white characters), others have criticized the novel as racist, citing the use of the word "nigger" and emphasizing the stereotypically "comic" treatment of Jim's superstition and ignorance. Huck struggles not only with the challenges of his strenuous journey, but also with the 19th century social climate and the role it forces on him regarding Jim. Throughout the story, Huck is in moral conflict with the received values of the society in which he lives, and while he is unable to consciously refute those values even in his thoughts, he makes a moral choice based on his own valuation of Jim's friendship and human worth, a decision in direct opposition to the things he has been taught. Mark Twain, in his lecture notes, proposes that "a sound heart is a surer guide than an ill-trained conscience" and goes on to describe the novel as ..".a book of mine where a sound heart and a deformed conscience come into collision and conscience suffers defeat." To highlight the hypocrisy required to condone slavery within an ostensibly moral system, Twain has Huck's father enslave his son, isolate him, and beat him. When Huck escapes - which anyone would agree was the right thing to do - he then immediately encounters Jim "illegally" doing the same thing. Some scholars discuss Huck's own character, and the novel itself, in the context of its relation to African-American culture as a whole. John Alberti quotes Shelley Fisher Fishkin, who writes in her 1990s book Was Huck Black?: Mark Twain and African-American Voices, "by limiting their field of inquiry to the periphery," white scholars "have missed the ways in which African-American voices shaped Twain's creative imagination at its core." It is suggested that the character of Huckleberry Finn illustrates the correlation, and even interrelatedness, between white and black culture in the United States. Review Citations: Library Journal 07/07/2008 (EAN 9781400106318, Compact Disc) Entertainment Weekly 07/05/2013 pg. 100 (EAN 9780451530943, Mass Market Paperbound) Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2006 pg. 327 (EAN 9781402724992, Hardcover) Ingram Children's Advance 07/01/2005 pg. 44 (EAN 9780060758820, Paperback) School Library Journal 06/01/2005 pg. 170 (EAN 9781402712166, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2005 pg. 305 (EAN 9781402712166, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/1991 pg. 568 (EAN 9780894714764, Paperback) Library Journal 11/01/2003 pg. 129 (EAN 9780520237711, Hardcover) - *Starred Review Library Journal 01/01/2004 pg. 170 (EAN 9780520237711, Hardcover) Choice 02/01/2004 pg. 1082 (EAN 9780520237711, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/1991 pg. 568 (EAN 9780140390469, Paperback) Library Journal 11/01/2002 pg. 134 (EAN 9780140390469, Paperback) - *Starred Review Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/1990 (EAN 9780816718580, Paperback) Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/1990 (EAN 9780816718573, Hardcover) Newsweek 10/06/2008 pg. 8 (EAN 9780486417806, Paperback) Booklist 06/01/2001 pg. 1804 (EAN 9780520228382, Paperback) Library Journal 07/01/2001 pg. 92 (EAN 9780520228382, Paperback) Booklist 06/01/2001 pg. 1804 (EAN 9780520228061, Hardcover) Library Journal 07/01/2001 pg. 92 (EAN 9780520228061, Hardcover) - *Starred Review Univ PR Books for Public Libry 01/01/2002 pg. 80 (EAN 9780520228061, Hardcover) School Library Journal 01/01/2001 (EAN 9781569945285, Analog Audio Cassette) School Library Journal 11/01/2002 (EAN 9781569945285, Analog Audio Cassette) Beyond the Cover Author Interv 11/01/2000 pg. 19 (EAN 9780743506335, Compact Disc) School Library Journal 08/24/2000 (EAN 9780001047570, Analog Audio Cassette) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/1995 pg. 62 (EAN 9780688106560, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/1994 pg. 91 (EAN 9780688106560, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 96 01/01/1996 pg. 600 (EAN 9780688106560, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/2006 pg. 774 (EAN 9780688106560, Hardcover) Wilson Middle/Junior Hi Catalo 01/01/2009 pg. 1027 (EAN 9780688106560, Hardcover) Library Journal 04/15/1996 pg. 126 (EAN 9780679448891, Hardcover) Wilson Fiction Catalog 01/01/2006 pg. 935 (EAN 9780679424703, Hardcover) Wilson Fiction Catalog 01/01/2010 pg. 933 (EAN 9780679424703, Hardcover) Wilson Senior High Core Col 01/01/2011 pg. 1075 (EAN 9780679424703, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/1991 pg. 568 (EAN 9780671640194, Mass Market Paperbound) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/1991 pg. 568 (EAN 9780671499488, Mass Market Paperbound) Ingram Children's Advance 07/01/1999 pg. 14 (EAN 9780689831393, Paperback) Ingram Advance 08/01/1999 pg. 26 (EAN 9780689831393, Paperback) Library Journal 02/01/2000 pg. 132 (EAN 9781572701113, Analog Audio Cassette) Booklist 10/01/1993 pg. 335 (EAN 9780553210798, Mass Market Paperbound) Library Journal 02/15/1989 (EAN 9780520059658, Hardcover) Library Journal 03/01/1989 (EAN 9780520059658, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/1991 pg. 568 (EAN 9780520053380, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 96 01/01/1996 pg. 600 (EAN 9780520053380, Hardcover) Publishers Weekly 11/25/2013 (EAN 9781624069192, Compact Disc) School Library Journal 02/01/2014 pg. 59 (EAN 9781624069192, Compact Disc) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/1991 pg. 568 (EAN 9780451519122, Mass Market Paperbound) Library Journal 04/15/1997 pg. 125 (EAN 9780449912720, Paperback) Outside 10/01/2013 pg. 107 (EAN 9780448060002, Hardcover) Audio File 06/01/2015 pg. 37 (EAN 9781610451383, Compact Disc) - *Starred Review Booklist 10/01/1993 pg. 335 (EAN 9780606131124, Prebound-Sewn) Publishers Weekly 09/27/1985 (EAN 9780385232449, Hardcover) Kirkus Reviews 09/01/2010 (EAN 9789380028354, Paperback) People 01/24/2011 pg. 49 (EAN 9789380028354, Paperback) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/1991 pg. 568 (EAN 9780894714771, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/1991 pg. 568 (EAN 9780060143763, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2010 pg. 337 (EAN 9781602707023, Library Binding) Contributor Bio:  Twain, Mark Mark Twain was born in Hannibal, Missouri, in 1835. An adventurous young man, Twain traveled around the United States. He worked as a Mississippi riverboat pilot, a miner, and a reporter. When Twain wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in 1872, most books presented boys as purely good or evil characters. Twain wanted his boy hero, Tom Sawyer, to be a real boy, so he based the book on his own boyhood adventures in Missouri.