The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

What I wonder are Puffin's motives in collecting these titles into a new series? Do they presume that young readers wish to add these so-called classics to their collections on a sort of 'yard of children's books' principle? Will it simply work out as an economical proposition due to copyright considerations? Are these books aimed at the doting aunties and ill-informed grannies market, who generally like to buy familiar and safe-sounding books for their young relatives?

Given that they have arrived, who will read them? My librarian considers that children (and teachers) have enough on to keep up with newer and perhaps more meaningful books; They do not need to be 'cluttered' (her word), with some of the older titles, especially when not all are strictly children's classics anyway. I personally doubt whether they cannot be matched in style by more modern authors. Most make good stories, but not all so great as to be an indispensable part of literary growth.

On a more positive note, most of these books are now adapted for film or television and as such frequently on the small screen. For this reason alone, on the off-chance that a pupil will want to read the original, a copy or two in the classroom, library or bookshop will not come amiss. They are attractively pieced.

And so to the plot...

Tom Sawyer and his chums are generally being pretty tiresome and superstitious and meet up with some thoroughly bad characters in a graveyard, which scares them to much that they go in fear of their lives, or more specifically of a sinister ethnic type who ends up, conveniently, blocked in a cave. Tom, who had planned to murder, pillage and take hostages at the beginning of the book gets handsomely rewarded and a few favours from a Miss Thatcher.

I said these classics made good stories didn't I?