In this classic story, Mark Twain re-created a long-ago world of freshly whitewashed fences and Sunday school picnics into which sordid characters and violent incidents sometimes intruded. The tale powerfully appeals to both adult and young imaginations. Mark Twain's lively tale of the scrapes and adventures of boyhood is set in St. Petersburg, Missouri, where Tom Sawyer and his friend Huckleberry Finn had the kinds of adventures many boys can imagine—racing bugs during class, impressing girls, with fights and stunts in the schoolyard, getting lost in a cave, and playing pirates on the Mississippi river. With its hilarious accounts of boyish pranks and its shrewd assessments of human nature, 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' has captivated generations of readers of all ages.