August Book Club: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
(Yes, it’s a classic. No, you don’t have to write a book report.)
Every August, I like to slide something nostalgic into the mix. Something that feels like summer: muddy riverbanks, barefoot mischief, and that magical kind of childhood freedom that seems both charming and a little dangerous in hindsight.
Now, I know this isn’t my usual twisty mystery recommendation, but stick with me. Twain might be a 19th-century icon, but he was also savagely funny and completely fearless when it came to poking holes in American culture. He skewered religious hypocrisy, blind patriotism, stuffy education, and pretty much every “respectable” institution of his time. And somehow managed to do it through the lens of a mischievous boy who just wants to skip school and impress a girl. Legend.
My real-life book club read this last month, and we had such a fun time discussing it. Though I may have gone a little overboard in gushing about how much I love Twain. (To be fair, I once took a whole college course on him and still have the hundred-year-old red leather editions my dad passed down to me. So… fandom runs deep.)
If you’re nervous about reading old-timey dialect, I highly recommend the Nick Offerman audiobook version, available on Audible. It’s fantastic. Offerman (aka Ron Swanson, for the Parks & Rec folks) makes it sound like he’s just sitting on a porch telling you a story with a sweet tea in hand. His narration brings out all the dry humor and small-town absurdity that modern readers sometimes miss on the page.
His closing comment is worth the listen alone: “Being paid to perform such a gratifying activity as reading Mark Twain aloud felt powerfully akin to Tom Sawyer hoodwinking other boys into paying him for the privilege of whitewashing a fence. Let’s keep that between us.”
This is a perfect pick for anyone craving a little escape with depth. And if it’s a reread for you, I promise you’ll find new things in it as an adult. (And if you want to talk about The War Prayer later, I’m ready.)
Kelly Brakenhoff is the author of 17 books and a seasoned ASL interpreter. She splits her writing energy between two series: cozy mysteries set on a college campus and children’s books featuring Duke the Deaf Dog.
In 2025, two of her children’s books were selected for the CBC Favorites Award Lists, honored by teachers and librarians nationwide for excellence in children’s literature. Parents, kids, and educators love the Duke the Deaf Dog books and activity guides because they introduce ASL and the Deaf community through engaging stories.
And if you enjoy a smart female sleuth, want to learn more about Deaf culture, or have lived in a place where livestock outnumber people, the Cassandra Sato Mystery series will have you connecting the dots faster than a group project thrown together the night before it’s due.
A proud mom to four adults, head of the dog-snuggling department, and grandma to a growing brood of perfectly behaved grandkids, Kelly and her husband call Nebraska home.