The Best Fence Painter (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Series #2) »

Riverboat pilot, journalist, failed businessman (several times over): Samuel Clemens -- the man behind the figure of Mark Twain -- led many lives. But it was in his novels and short stories that he created a voice and an outlook on life that will be forever identified with the American character.

It's justly the most celebrated and amusing episode from Tom Sawyer: the unforgettable chapter when Aunt Polly orders Tom to whitewash her huge fence before he can go fishing. Lucky children will have the joy of experiencing it all for the first time--Tom's wily idea, his friends' gullibility, and a job well done with no effort on the hero's part--thanks to this delightful, simplified version.

School Library Journal

K-Gr 2-The essence of Tom Sawyer's mischief and of his irresistible personality is preserved in these easy readers. Each title focuses on just one episode from the novel, broken down into four brief chapters with simple vocabulary and controlled sentence length. Tom skips his piano lesson in order to go to the swimming hole in the first book and tricks his friends into painting a fence for him in the second. For each of his escapades, he must face Aunt Polly, depicted with old-fashioned charm by Bates, whose colorful, realistic illustrations add a great deal to this interpretation of the classic. Shortened, condensed books are often tedious to read; in an effort to deliver plot, they can run roughshod over the author's style and the character's voice. However, Nichols's adaptations are deliberately less ambitious. The result is a spare but pleasing narration that will provide children with a tiny taste of Twain and, hopefully, a desire to enjoy a larger helping later on.-Gloria Koster, West School, New Canaan, CT Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.