American Stories….Amazing Americans

The Amazing AuthorMark Twain

By: Mrs. Grupp

Fall 2008

                           

Did you know…Mark Twain

• Mark Twain was born in Florida, MO, but grew up in Hannibal, MO, along the Mississippi River.

• During part of his life he piloted a steamboat

along the Mississippi.• His real name is Samuel

Langhorne Clemens, and his pen name, Mark

Twain, came from his days on the steamboat.

Crewmen would yell “mark twain” to test the

depth of the water.

             

              

Greatest ContributionsMark Twain

• He wrote the classic novels The

Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of

Huckleberry Finn.• The novels were based on his life in

Hannibal, MO.• He shared his

humorous stories to audiences all over the

world.

             

              

Interesting Tidbits

Mark Twain• He began his writing

career as a reporter.• The Gilded Age was

a novel that made fun of the wealthy.• Often he added

humor to serious topics such as the bad conditions in California mining

camps.

             

              

Primary source

Description Citation URL

  Picture of Mark Twain in his famous white suit holding a pipe.

“[Samuel Langhorne Clemens, three-quarter length portrait, seated, facing slightly right, holding pipe].” Created [between 1900 & 1910]. C1941. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

  Mark Twain piloted steamboats on the Mississippi River.

A. Janicke & Co. “Our City. (St. Louis, MO.).” 1859. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/aa/writers/twain/name_2 

  Sketch of Huckleberry Finn holding a cat.

Kemble, Edward Windsor, artist, “Huckleberry Finn.” 1884. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/aa/writers/twain/huckfinn_1 

                           

RESOURCE TABLE

             

              

             

              

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/aa/writers/twain/name_1

RESOURCE TABLE CONTINUED

  The wealthy and the poor lived very different lives in Twain’s time.

“New York city-Rich and Poor; or the Two Christmas Dinners-a Scene in Washington Market, Sketched from Real Life.” From Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, January 4, 1873.

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/aa/writers/twain/humorist_2 

  Mark Twain playing pool.

“Mark Twain, Half-Length Portrait, Standing, Facing Front, Holding Cue Stick at Pool Table.” Between 1870 and 1910. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/aa/writers/twain/humorist_3