The Adventures of Tom Sawyer charts the escapades of a thirteen-year-old boy growing up on the banks of the Mississippi. Testing the patience of his aunt Polly, the bold and sharp-witted Tom Sawyer frequently skips school in search of excitement, and the scrapes he gets into with his friend Huckleberry Finn range from innocent japes to more serious events such as the witnessing of a murder. One of the most popular and influential American novels, Mark Twain's masterpiece is at the same time a highly entertaining romp which celebrates youth and freedom and a more profound investigation of his times, touching on themes such as race, revenge, and slavery. This volume includes Tom Sawyer, Detective , a sequel and pastiche of the detective genre, first published in 1896. “The father of American literature.” ―William Faulkner Mark Twain was a humorist, satirist, lecturer and writer. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , which has since been called the Great American Novel, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer . During his lifetime, Twain became a friend to presidents, artists, leading industrialists and European royalty.