So we enter a day of endless possibility in Mark Twain’s classic tale. He called it a ‘hymn to boyhood’, and this unforgettable story of a boy growing up in a small town on the Mississippi has become an all-time favourite, not just in America, but around the world. The original boyhood hero, the irrepressible Tom is an irresistible mix of exuberance, bad behaviour and bravado. Whether he is tricking his schoolmates into whitewashing a fence, running away to become a pirate with his friend Huck Finn, witnessing a murder, discovering treasure, or falling in love with the lovely Becky Thatcher, trouble, good humour and adventure are never far away.

Robert Ingpen’s illustrations create a real sense of time, place and character: each image an enchanting evocation of a distant time in the American South.