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| Image retrieved from www.amazon.com |
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kerley, Barbara. The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy). Ill. by Edwin Fotheringham. New York, Scholastic Press: 2010. ISBN: 0545125081
2. PLOT SUMMARY
The Extraordinary Mark Twain is a biography of Mark Twain based on the writings of his 13-year-old daughter, Susy. She is annoyed that people assume they know her father because he is famous and quoted everywhere. “They think of Mark Twain as a humorist, joking at everything.” However, Susy knows there is so much more to him than that. So she secretly keeps her own journal, a biography, about her father to show his true personality and character. Kerley includes excerpts from Susy’s journal to write a narrative that reveals the true Mark Twain - the one that Susy called father.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
There have many many children’s books written about Mark Twain, but this one stands out above the rest. What makes this one so unique is that it’s the story of Mark Twain according to his 13-year-old daughter, Susy. Barbara Kerley skillfully writes this biography so that Susy’s voice is heard above her own. The reader gets to see Mark Twain’s life through his daughter’s eyes. Susy writes about her father in a direct and humorous way - like only a young girl with deep admiration and love for her father could write. She gives insight into who her father really is. She shows what he is like at home, from day to day, and how he is so much more than a humorist. “‘I never saw a man with so much variety of feeling as Papa has,’ Susy said, and she was determined to set the record straight.” She does just that as she writes about his habits, his good qualities, and his not-so-good qualities.
In this biography, Kerley tells two stories - the one of Susy writing her father’s biography, and the one of Susy’s father, Mark Twain. The book is organized in such a way that it would have no trouble keeping a child’s attention and interest. On every other page, a small journal entry is included in the form of an actual journal. The reader can open it and read Susy’s own words about her father. Reading these journal entries is like walking right into the Clemens home and entering Susy’s world. On the final page of the book, we’re told that all excerpts from Susy’s biography come from the original manuscripts, which can be found at the University of Virginia Library. Kerley also includes a timeline of mark Twain’s life, allowing readers to see the events of Mark Twain’s life beyond this biography.
Edwin Fotheringham allows us to enter into the life of this beautiful family with his digitally-enhanced illustrations. He gives the reader a picture of Mark Twain just as Susy describes him - with curly gray hair and a small mustache. He shows him up all night writing, or “sailing right on” as Twain called it, and sitting in a rocking chair “roaring with laughter” while reading one of his own books. His charming illustrations depict the architecture and scenery of the late 1800s. These images of Twain’s life help Susy set the record straight about her father - “the funny, serious, absentminded, cat-loving, billiard-playing, philosophical Papa - the extraordinary Mark Twain, according to Susy.”
4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Texas Bluebonnet Award 2011-2012
From SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL - “A delightful primer on researching and writing biographies, and a joy to peruse.”
From KIRKUS REVIEWS - “A heartwarming tribute to both the writing life in general and the well-loved humorist—oops, sorry Susy… ‘Pholosopher!’”
5. CONNECTIONS
Gather other books written by Barbara Kerley and illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham such as:
- What To Do About Alice?: How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed the world, and Drove Her Father Teddy Crazy!. ISBN 0439922313
- Those Rebels, John and Tom. ISBN 0545222680
- A Home For Mr. Emerson. ISBN 0545350883
Write a biography of someone you spend a lot of time with (a family member or a friend) whom you think the world needs to know the truth about. Use Susy’s journal-writing style as a guide for your own writing.
Visit http://www.barbarakerley.com/site/Common_Core__Extraordinary_Mark_Twain.html for more ideas for exploring The Extraordinary Mark Twain.
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