Fleischman, Sid. The
Trouble Begins at 8: a Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West. Greenwillow
Books, New York. 2008. 224 pages. Tr. $18.99 ISBN 9780061344312
Annotation
Sid Fleischman’s biography of Mark Twain, The Trouble Begins at 8, focuses on the
early life of the great American author, before he gained fame as a writer and
was known as Sam Clemens, a young man ready for adventure.
Review
In The Trouble
Begins at 8, Sid Fleischman recounts the early life of one of America’s
most beloved authors, Mark Twain. Before
he gained fame as a writer, Twain was Samuel Clemens, a boy who grew up in the
South, spending his boyhood exploring the landscape along the Mississippi, much
like his characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Also, like his characters, Twain’s life was
full of adventure; from working a printing press, as a steamboat captain, to
mining for gold, Twain’s life was never dull.
Fleischman does his subject justice, with a witty and humorous writing
style that evokes Twains own sense of humor and would have been appreciated by
the author know for his wit and sense of humor.
Fleischman does an excellent job describing Twain’s character and
writing style; he even includes the celebrated piece that gained Twain fame as
a writer, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” to give readers a
true sense of Twain’s writing style. This
is the kind of biography that will spark reader’s interest in learning more
about the great author and reading his celebrated novels.
Awards/Honors
ALSC Notable Book
Orbis Pictus Award 2009
Front
and Back Matter
A Mark Twain Sampler, Timeline, References,
Illustration & Photograph Sources, Bibliography, Novels and Other Works,
Index
Author’s
Website
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