Great books Unit 2 It is still read and loved. Reading and vocabulary Work in pairs. Read the first paragraph of the passage in Activity 2 quickly and try to answer the questions. Use the words and expression in the box to help you. adventure hero nineteenth century treasure What kind of story is The Adventures of Tom Sawyer? When and where is the story set? Read the passage and check your answers to Activity 1. A book review of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer One of my favourite great books is The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain. The story is set in the town of St Petersburg, Missouri, in the US, in the nineteenth century. It tells some exciting stories about a boy who has many adventures. Tom, the hero of the book, lives with his aunt Polly. He is a lively and clever boy. He does not like people telling him what to do, so he always gets into trouble. He and his best friend, Huck Finn, run away to an island in the middle of the Mississippi River. Tom has more trouble because a bad man named Injun Joe is looking for him. Later, Tom escapes from a cave with another friend, Becky. He also finds Injun Joe's treasure box and takes it away. My favourite part of the book is when Tom and Huck start their adventures on the island in the Mississippi River. At first, they are happy. But when they hear that everyone thinks they are dead, they feel very sorry, so they come back home. They hide and watch for a time when they see their family and neighbours coming to their funeral in the church. Then, Tom and Huck suddenly appear. Everyone is surprised to see them at first, but very pleased to find that they are alive. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a great book. It is more than an adventure story. Mark Twain wrote it in 1876. It describes people's lives in the southern states of America at that time. It tells how young people grow, how people love each other and how bad people pay for their actions. It is written in everyday English, and the dialogues sound especially real. Today, it is still read and loved by people all over the world, and it is thought to be one of the greatest American stories. Noticing words and expressions that are similar or repeated will help you understand the theme of a passage. For example, the expressions many adventures, run away and treasure box in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer show us that the story will be an exciting adventure.