Mark Twain is one of America’s best-known writers and a
fascinating character. April Jones Prince’s Who Was Mark Twain? is a wonderful introduction to his life
and times. This appealing chapter book takes readers from Samuel Langhorn Clemens’s
birth in Missouri in 1835 through his rambunctious youth (sometimes skipping
school and always looking for an adventure) and his time as a printer’s apprentice
and steamboat pilot, to his move west to Nevada Territory captured by “silver
fever” and beyond. Discovering that writing suited his abilities better than mining for
silver, Sam proceeded to develop his skill as a newspaper editor and columnist
with a humorous bent, adopting the pen name “Mark Twain” (the nautical term for
measuring depth that he had learned as a Mississippi riverboat pilot). Further
travels in the Sandwich Islands and Europe confirmed his appeal as a
storyteller, and he gained a strong reputation as a writer and lecturer. Life
for Mark Twain held both successes and heartbreak, and he was not immune to the
challenges of the times, such as the lingering effects of slavery during
Reconstruction and the increasing gap between rich and poor. Marrying into a
family that had supported abolition only increased Twain’s astute reflections
on society and its inequities. Among numerous other publications, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its
sequel The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn “created a distinctly American kind of literature — one that turned
everyday American English, with its rhythms and flavor, into literature.” His
books made people think as well as entertaining them. Prince includes
informative descriptions of public life in Twain’s America along with the
details of his personal life, which, with energetic illustrations by John
O’Brien on every page, blend into a very engaging biography. Ages 8-12.
Who Was Mark Twain? is just one of dozens of factual and entertaining
chapter book biographies of presidents, explorers, artists, entertainers,
athletes, activists and other notables in the “Who Was…” and “Who Is…” series.
