By LAURIE VOSS
Circulation Supervisor, Warsaw Community Public Library

If you are a baby boomer, then you probably read “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” while a teen. Mark Twain published Huckleberry Finn in February 1885, making this classic 130 years old. This has been said to be the world’s most loved and at the same time, the most banned book in American history.

Mark Twain wasn’t excited about how “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”’ was coming along as he wrote it.
He began the book in 1876, but put it aside to write “The Prince and the Pauper” and “Life on the Mississippi.” After a steamboat visit to Hannibal, Missouri in 1883, Twain felt inspired enough to finally finish his manuscript.

Twain’s book is often considered the first modern American book, and touched on never before mentioned subjects of slavery and racism in America’s South. In Twain’s life his uncle owned 20 slaves, and Twain was torn on the matter of slavery.

Like Twain, Huckleberry Finn was assisting a runaway slave to freedom, all the while feeling that in helping Jim escape, he was committing a sin. In Twain’s book, Finn decides against turning Jim in to his owner and helps him escape. In Twain’s actual life, he ended up marrying into an abolitionist family.

Huckleberry Finn was the first book to use the actual vernacular of the characters it used. Speaking in dialects such as “it ain’t no matter,” had never been used in previous books. Using dialects was a way to introduce the true voice of the characters.

For Twain’s efforts, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” became one of the most banned books because of its use of the “N-word,” used some 200 times throughout, and critics felt the book was racist. Twain’s reply was that in fact, his book was not written for children, and asked that copies be removed from children’s areas of libraries.

Do you love the classics too? The Warsaw Community Public Library is the place to be to find this and many more classics. What are your personal favorites? “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Gone with the Wind,” or maybe “Oliver Twist?”

Whatever your favorites, you can find them here at the Warsaw Community Public Library. Stop in and check us out.