She looked perplexed for a moment, and then said, not fiercely, but still loud enough for the furniture to hear: “Well, I lay if I get hold of you I’ll—” She did not finish, for by this time she was bending down and punching under the bed with the broom, and so she needed breath to punctuate the punches with. She resurrected nothing but the cat. “I never did see the beat of that boy! ” She went to the open door and stood in it and looked out among the tomato vines and “jimpson” weeds that constituted the garden. No Tom. So she lifted up her voice at an angle calculated for distance and shouted: “Y-o-u-u TOM!
Classic Literature
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer passages and copywork.
Set along the Mississippi River in a small American town, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer follows the mischievous and imaginative Tom Sawyer as he turns everyday life into a series of adventures. From skipping school and exploring caves to witnessing a dangerous crime, Tom’s curiosity repeatedly leads him beyond the boundaries of ordinary childhood. First published in 1876, the novel blends humor, adventure, and social observation to capture both the freedom and uncertainty of growing up. Through Tom’s experiences, Mark Twain explores friendship, courage, morality, and the tension between youthful freedom and the rules of the adult world.
- Chapters
- 35
- Passages
- 676
- Comments
- 0
- Copywork
- 1
Reading Profile
A quick sense of its length and rhythm.
71,033 Words
4,841 Sentences
14.7 words Avg. sentence length
Author
About Mark Twain.
Slow Reading
Read for the sentences that stay with you.
The Passage is built around passages rather than finished-book lists. Open The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, notice the line that asks for another look, and keep it close as part of your reading journal.
Sample Passages
A few places to begin.
” There was a slight noise behind her and she turned just in time to seize a small boy by the slack of his roundabout and arrest his flight. “There! I might ’a’ thought of that closet. What you been doing in there? ” “Nothing. ” “Nothing! Look at your hands. And look at your mouth. What is that truck? ” “I don’t know, aunt. ” “Well, I know. It’s jam—that’s what it is. Forty times I’ve said if you didn’t let that jam alone I’d skin you. Hand me that switch. ” The switch hovered in the air—the peril was desperate— “My! Look behind you, aunt! ” The old lady whirled round, and snatched her skirts out of danger.
The lad fled on the instant, scrambled up the high board-fence, and disappeared over it. His aunt Polly stood surprised a moment, and then broke into a gentle laugh. “Hang the boy, can’t I never learn anything? Ain’t he played me tricks enough like that for me to be looking out for him by this time? But old fools is the biggest fools there is. Can’t learn an old dog new tricks, as the saying is. But my goodness, he never plays them alike, two days, and how is a body to know what’s coming?
Copywork
Turn memorable sentences into practice.
Copywork gives a sentence more time. Type a passage exactly as it appears, then return to the words you chose with more attention than a quick highlight allows.
Reflect
Leave a public or private note on the sentence that mattered.
Copy
Practice one memorable line at a time through focused typing.