The Topic: Mark Twain Easier - Mark Twain is one of America's best-known authors. Born in Florida Missouri in 1835, Twain moved to Hannibal Missouri in 1839. He wrote classics such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.   Harder - Mark Twain (1835-1910), was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Considered the greatest humorist in American literature, Twain's varied works include novels, travel narratives, short stories, sketches, and essays. Although his works are required reading in most schools, some of his novel are controversial.   Mark Twain by J. Zwick http://www.boondocksnet.com/twainwww/index.html This site features information on Twain's writings, the banning of his books, a biography, criticism, quotes, and guides to Huckleberry Finn and other books. Other Comprehensive Twain Websites: 2) Mark Twain from The Hannibal Courier-Post http://www.hannibal.net/twain/index.shtml 3) Mark Twain in Cyberspace by P. Salwen http://salwen.com/mtcyber.html 4) Mark Twain in His Times by S. Railton http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/railton/ 5) Mark Twain from PBS http://www.pbs.org/marktwain/ 6) Mark Twain from PBS Online NewsHour http://www.pbs.org/newshour/media/twain/index.html   Mark Twain House in Hartford, CT http://www.marktwainhouse.org/ Here you find history and information for visiting Mark Twain’s home. Related Websites: 2) Center for Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College, NY http://www.elmira.edu/academics/ar_marktwain.shtml 3) Mark Twain's Birthplace & Hometown from Robagoya-juku English School, Yokohama, Japan http://www.twain-jp.org/eindex.html 4) Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum, Hannibal, MO http://www.marktwainmuseum.org/ 5) Mark Twain Circle of New York http://salwen.com/mtahome.html 6) Mark Twain in Hartford from Hartford Courant http://courant.ctnow.com/projects/twain/index.htm 7) Mark Twain Sites in Elmira, New York http://lemur.cit.cornell.edu/~jules/Mark_Twain.html    Mark Twain Papers & Project from Bancroft Library at University of California, Berkeley http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/MTP/ Here is a comprehensive archive of Sam Clemens’ personal letters and papers. Not-To-Be-Missed Section: 2) Mark Twain at Large: His Travels Here and Abroad http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/Exhibits/MTP/ Other Research and Document Sites: 3) Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 at Modern English Collection, Electronic Text Ctr, Univ. of Virginia (Scroll to near bottom of website to access materials for Mark Twain) http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/modeng/modengT.browse.html 4) Mark Twain Quotations, Newspaper Collections, & Related Resources by B. Schmidt http://www.twainquotes.com/   Samuel Clemens from PBS's The West http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/a_c/clemens.htm Read a brief biography of this well-known author. Other Twain Biography Sites: 2) From the Autobiography of Mark Twain http://www.steamboats.com/twainquote1.html 3) Hartford Courant Obituary Notice http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/railton/sc_as_mt/mtobit29.html 4) Mark Twain: A Biography of Samuel L. Clemens http://marktwain.skidsville.com/bio1.htm 5) Mark Twain, Internationalist by R. Newman http://www.yorku.ca/twainweb/filelist/intl01.html 6) Writer Hero: Mark Twain by D. Ginsburg http://myhero.com/hero.asp?hero=markTwain    After visiting several of the websites for Mark Twain, complete one or more of these related activities.   Make an Origami Jumping Frog. Follow the two-color illustrated instructions found at Make an Origami Jumping Frog.   Test Your Knowledge of Mark Twain. First we suggest you visit several of the biography sites, then go to Mark Twain's - Memory Builder, loosely based on an 1885 game designed and patented by Twain. His game was intended to help people keep historical facts straight. This one is divided into four sections, each with eight questions: two sections on Sam Clemens' life and Mark Twain's career, and two on America between 1840 and 1910. There are plenty of facts and dates, and also a lot of pictures. As you play, you may also meet a few or a lot of Mark Twain's intimates and associates; they're here to help you find the dates you're looking for. Good luck!   Complete A Mark Twain WebQuest. Follow or adapt the procedures found at the following webQuest sites: 1) ADHDventures of Tom Sawyer (Grades 7-8) by J. Fisher http://www.esc20.k12.tx.us/etprojects/formats/webquests/spring2001/oconnor/jdfwq/default.html 2) Huck Finn: All-American? by Ms.Fratoe http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/webhuckfinms.html 3) Huckleberry Finn WebQuest http://www.benet.org/teachers/klaird/hfinnquest.htm 4) Interview with Mark Twain (Grade 11) by L. Caudell http://www.wcboe.k12.md.us/mainfold/technolog/techsat/web01/CAUDELL/TWAINW~1.HTM 5) Mark Twain, Huck Finn WebQuest http://www.geocities.com/jed51459/twainquest.html 6) Mark Twain WebQuest by M. Arens http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Styx/9444/TwainWQ.html 7) Who Is Mark Twain? (Grade 12) by C. Woodington http://www.allabery.com/courses/webquest/woodington/   Perform A Mark Twain Story in Theater. You can find Aaron Shepard's adapted script for Reader's Theater at The War Prayer (Grade 7 and Above). The play is written for a minimum of eight players. More advanced thespians may want to try a two-act play about Mark Twain and his friend, The Rev. Joseph H. Twichell. You can find the play written by Edgar K. DeJean at Sam and Joe.   Send A Virtual 'Mark Twain' Postcard. Share a Twain quote with friends and family at Mark Twain Postcards. Select an image, add your message, preview it, and send it along. Notice that there are multiple webpages to chose from. The recipient will receive an email message with instructions for picking up the card.   Hold A Mark Twain Debate. The debate question: Is Mark Twain the greatest American literary figure of all time? You decide your position and prepare an argument supporting your decision. If so - why? If not, who is and why do they deserve that recognition?   Conduct A Mock Trial of Mark Twain. Is Huck Finn a racist book? Try the author and determine his guilt of innocence. You can find some procedural help at The Trial of Mark Twain by D. Walker. You may also get some information at Essential Question: Should the Book The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn Be Taught? by V. Burdette.   Website By Kids For Kids Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain by C. Russell and J. Rodebaugh http://wvnvm.wvnet.edu/~gsa00147/ This page is an interactive book review.   More Twain Websites Adventures of Tome Sawyer by Mark Twain from School Tales http://www.schooltales.com/tomsawyer/ Tom Sawyer's adventures give us a scamp's eye view of 19th century education. The school-based excerpts from Twain's celebrated novel follow Tom's trials as a reluctant scholar with the author's usual wit and insight. Related Websites: 2) Adventures of Tom Sawyer http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/tomsawye/tomhompg.html 3) Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain from Literary Explorer http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/Lincoln_HS/Burleson/Lessons/TomSawyer.htm 4) Mark Twain's Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Study Guide http://www.shunsley.eril.net/armoore/engks3/tomsawyer.htm   Influence of Liberal Religion on Mark Twain by D. Eutsey http://www.meadville.edu/eutsey_1_2.HTM Throughout his writings and his life, Mark Twain earned a well-deserved reputation as a cynical critic of Christianity.   Mark Twain and Technology: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by C. Beard http://fayette.k12.in.us/~cbeard/cy/index.html Learn about the technological developments of Twain's lifetime- - an understanding that may provide greater appreciation of this novel, one of the first science fiction novels written in America. Related Website: 2) Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/yankee/cyhompg.html   Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn: Text, Illustrations, and Early Reviews http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/twain/huckfinn.html This site offers a complete early edition of Huck Finn, with all 174 illustrations from the first edition, dozens of early reviews from newspapers and magazines across the country, and covers from London and New York. Related Websites: 2) Adventures of Huckleberry Finn http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/huckfinn/huchompg.html 3) Folk Beliefs in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/projects/riedy/intro.html 4) Huckleberry Finn Debated, 1884-2001 http://www.boondocksnet.com/twainwww/hf_debate.html 5) Huckleberry Finn Study Guide http://www.bellmore-merrick.k12.ny.us/huck.html 6) Mark Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by T. S. Perry http://www.boondocksnet.com/twaintexts/hf_century8505.html 7) Mark Twain: More “Tears and Flapdoodle" by J.W. Tuttleton from The New Criterion http://www.newcriterion.com/archive/15/sept96/twain.htm   Mark Twain in Life Magazine http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/sc_as_mt/mtinlife.html Here is a sampling of cartoon images of Mark Twain from Life magazine between 1883 and 1907. Related Website: 2) Mark Twain (Photo Exhibit) from University of California Riverside http://www.cmp.ucr.edu/site/exhibitions/twain/   Sam Clemens, Union Man http://www.homestead.com/homefront/samclemens.html He is best known for his American classics Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but Hartford resident Samuel Clemens-alias Mark Twain-was also an active participant in and a staunch advocate of this country's growing labor movement.   Time Line of Events in the Life of Samuel Langhorne Clemens by K. Spitzner http://www.geocities.com/twaintimes/index.html Click on the pointer to explore the events of Mark Twain's lifetime. His life is broken down by decade, pictures of Nook Farm, and a virtual tour of a steamboat engine room.   TwainWeb http://www.yorku.ca/twainweb/ This the website of the Mark Twain Forum, a mailing list for persons having a scholarly interest in the life and writings of Mark Twain (1835-1910). Before Joining the Forum - Read: 2) Mark Twain Forum Survival Guide http://www.yorku.ca/twainweb/surv.html   Online Writings of Mark Twain Mark Twain Collections: Ever The Twain Shall Meet: Mark Twain on the Web http://users.telerama.com/~joseph/mtwain.html Mark Twain from Bibliomania http://www.bibliomania.com/0/0/54/ Mark Twain http://www.underthesun.cc/Classics/Twain/ Mark Twain from Blackmask Online http://www.blackmask.com/page.php?do=page&cat_id=54   Audio Collection Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Some other Readings by R.D. Colvett (audio: mp3-format) http://home.hiwaay.net/~deec/   Individual Works by Mark Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from Page by Page Books http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Mark_Twain/Adventures_of_Huckleberry_Finn/ Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from Blackmask Online http://www.blackmask.com/olbooks/hfinndex.htm Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven from Page by Page Books http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Mark_Twain/Captain_Stormfields_Visit_to_Heaven/ Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court from Page by Page Books http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Mark_Twain/A_Connecticut_Yankee_In_King_Arthurs_Court/ Horse's Tale from Page by Page Books http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Mark_Twain/A_Horses_Tale/ Is Shakespeare Dead? from Page by Page Books http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Mark_Twain/Is_Shakespeare_Dead/ Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg from Page by Page Books http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Mark_Twain/The_Man_that_Corrupted_Hadleyburg/ Prince and the Pauper from Page by Page Books http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Mark_Twain/The_Prince_and_the_Pauper/ Riding The Overland Stage, 1861 at Eyewitness http://www.ibiscom.com/stage.htm Tom Sawyer from Page by Page Books http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Mark_Twain/Tom_Sawyer/ Tom Sawyer Abroad from Page by Page Books http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Mark_Twain/Tom_Sawyer_Abroad/ Tom Sawyer, Detective from Page by Page Books http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Mark_Twain/Tom_Sawyer_Detective/ Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson from Page by Page Books http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Mark_Twain/The_Tragedy_of_Pudd_nhead_Wilson/    Websites For Teachers Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Grades 10-11) from Houghton Mifflin Company http://www.mcdougallittell.com/disciplines/_lang_arts/litcons/huckfinn/guide.cfm This novel guide focuses on society's laws versus higher moral values. While traveling down the Mississippi with a runaway slave, an adolescent boy learns to decide for himself what really matters. Related Teacher Guides: 2) Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain by K. Lunt-Vargas http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/huck/hucktg.html 3) Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Grades 9-12) by N.R. Donley from Discovery.com http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/greatbooks-huckfinn/index.html 4) Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain from KidReach http://www.westga.edu/~kidreach/huckfinnlesson.html 5) Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Vocabulary http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Quarter/8101/old/huck/FinnVocab.html 6) Censorship and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain by N. Middlemas http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/huckcen/huckcentg.html 7) Creating a Documented Argument on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn http://www2.mcps.k12.md.us/schools/wjhs/mediactr/englishpathfinder/huck/ 8) CyberGuide - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by K. Hughes and J. Taylor http://www.nashville.k12.tn.us/CyberGuides/Huck/teachertemplate.html 9) Huck Finn in Context: A Teaching Guide from PBS http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/teachers/huck/index.html 10)Huck Finn Thesis (Activities) http://www.postville.k12.ia.us/faculty/abbey/curr/huck.html 11) Understanding Adventures of Huckleberry Finn&emdash;Teacher Resources by C.D. Johnson http://www.litincontext.com/huck/resources.htm   From Mark Twain to David Bowie by J. Knap, Bay High School, OH http://www.rockhall.com/programs/plandetail.asp?id=543 Students study the complex relationship between the individual and the public image and the resulting impact on the works of the artist.   Mark Twain and American Humor (Grades 9-12) from EDSITEment http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?ID=327 In this three-part lesson, students examine structure and characterization in the short story and consider the significance of humor through a study of Mark Twain's 'The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.'   Mark Twain and the American West from PBS's The West http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/lesson_plans/lesson02.htm In this lesson students learn how Samuel Clemens became America's first celebrity author&emdash;Mark Twain. As they investigate how we all have different selves which we project at different times in different ways, they study the transformation of Clemens into Twain, looking at the variety of ways he signed his name, the clothing he used to project a public image, and the writing style for which he would become America's most beloved author.   Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper by W.P. Cope http://www.penguinputnam.com/static/packages/us/academic/resources/guides/twain/frame.htm This teacher guide is organized with sections for each phase of teaching the novel. It includes summaries, historical notes, discussion questions, vocabulary words, quotations, and activities.   Teaching Mark Twain by J. Zwick http://www.boondocksnet.com/twainwww/teaching.html Here is a collection of lesson plans and activites.   Twain's Hannibal from American Memories, Library of Congress http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/99/twain/intro.html This project consists of three lessons. Lesson One addresses the analysis of primary documents while the second and third lessons challenge the student to locate and analyze other online resources relating to the influences that growing up around Hannibal had on Twain's work.   Mark Twain Huck Finn journalist steamboat frontier life Florida, MO pseudonym humorist author Civil War slavery writing river pilot Mississippi River newspaper small town schooling travel writer lecture tour Gold Rush Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass apprenticeship mining river rafting Underground Railroad autobiography Halley's Comet political satire racism social satire pen name two fathoms deep 'Old West' storytelling Olivia Langdon bankruptcy typesetter banned book human rights correspondent minstrel show dialect runaway slave Hannibal, MO superstition 'point of view' slang Tom Sawyer Samuel Langhorne Clemens       Created by Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson, 6/02.