The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Reviewed date: 2008 Dec 15
Rating: 3
224 pages
I read this classic children's book aloud to my two daughters. They liked it. The vocabulary is challenging, especially to read aloud. The plot is simple enough to understand, although the circumlocutions Twain employs in telling the tale often prompted my younger daughter (age seven) to cry, "Tell me what just happened in everything you read!" I got to read the story and explain it too.
Objectionable content includes a few offhand remarks about slaves that are not racist, but reveal the reality of the day. The word n----- is used a few times--again, not in a racist way but in a manner reflecting the times. But kids tend to repeat what they hear, so I omitted the word each time it came up. Negro is also used several times; I read it, but stopped to inform the children that this word was no longer used today.