This humorous and nostalgic novel takes the listener back to the carefree days of boyhood in Hannibal, Missouri, where Mark Twain grew up. Just what did boys do in a small Midwestern town during the mid-1800s, a time when there were no televisions, no arcades, and no videos? They whitewashed fences, floated down rivers, traded marbles, formed secret societies, smoked pipes, and, on occasion, managed to attend their own funerals. Yes, they may have been a bit mischievous, but as Aunt Polly said of Tom when she believed him to be dead, 'He was the best-hearted boy that ever was.' Aunt Polly's sentiments reveal a cardinal tenet of Twain's philosophy: In this deceitful and infirm world, innocence can be found only in the heart of a boy.