Starred Review When Mark Twain first started giving speeches, the poster advertising them read, "Doors open at 7. The trouble begins at 8." This is the spirit in which Fleischman writes about Twain, talking about him as an author, of course, but also as steamboat pilot, a journalist, a prospector, and a lecturer other words, as an adventurer who didn't mind a little trouble. In keeping with this theme, Fleischman doesn't dwell on Twain's best-known books, featuring Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, but spends most of his time on Twain's earlier years, showing how young Samuel Clemens' myriad adventures became the building blocks for his stories. With a Twainian lilt to the prose, the book mingles deftly shaped research with snippets from Twain's writings. One of Fleischman's goals is to show Twain's noted wit; today's kids, however, may not find some of Twain's writing particularly amusing, its humor disappearing in the mists of time. What will probably delight readers more are Twain's amazing exploits aboard stagecoaches and steamboats, making and losing fortunes, and trying to find his place in the world. Numerous illustrations otos, cartoons, and memorabilia d solid, well-sourced back matter add to the enjoyment, as does a sampler of Twain's work.

This biography of the writer who “changed literature forever” sets a standard few can meet: it is top-notch entertainment. Newbery Medalist Fleischman (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">The Whipping Boy) nearly channels Mark Twain's voice, making great use of his subject's wit to contextualize his place in American letters. “Sam regarded it as akin to child abuse that his father... scraped up the funds to send him to the log schoolhouse,” Fleischman writes of Samuel Clemens's boyhood in Missouri. With colorful detail, he catalogues Clemens's search for a vocation—at the print shop, on the riverboat, with the gold-diggers and, finally, at the newspaper, where he first used the pen name Mark Twain. In one illustrative example, a San Francisco theater owner suggests in 1866 that Twain give a lecture about his recent adventures in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), and he accepts, despite a lack of public speaking experience. “He did not have a gift for caution,” Fleischman notes dryly. The title is taken from the lecture's advertising posters: “Doors open at 7 o'clock. The Trouble to begin at 8 o'clock.” Period engravings, newspaper cartoons and b&w photographs round out this spirited portrait. Final art not seen by <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">PW. Ages 9–12. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(July)

Gr 5-9 This biography covers enough of Samuel Clemens's youth for readers to appreciate how autobiographical Twain's later novels were, but the seven years that the writer spent meandering the Wild West are at the heart of the book. Fleischman chronicles Clemens's various bouts of gold fever and get-rich-quick schemes in the Nevada Territory and the San Francisco area, but shows that it was always his newspaper writing that provided stability. At age 30, Clemens was reborn as Mark Twain when his short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was accepted by a magazine and drew popular acclaim. An "Afterstory" provides brief information on Twain's subsequent marriage and the publication of the novels for which he is most famous. Although similar in scope to Kathryn Lasky's A Brilliant Streak: The Making of Mark Twain (Harcourt, 1998), Fleischman's account is more engaging as he slips easily into Twain's drawling cadences. The illustrations and photographs are rich and varied, and the back matter is a work of art in itself: the time line, annotated bibliography, and references will prove useful to report writers, and the inclusion of "The Celebrated Jumping Frog" is an extra treat. Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA

This retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood" is set in the desert and features a brown-skinned girl who encounters a hungry coyote while en route to her abuela's house. Polette smoothly integrates Spanish words into his text, and although Szegedy's busy illustrations would have benefited from a less anarchic palette, her coyote is a distinguished villain who gets his just desserts, Latin style. Glos.

The life of one of America's best-loved entertainers gets top-notch treatment in this highly enjoyable and eminently simpatico biography. Told in a vernacular worthy of the great man himself, the narrative recounts the adventures of Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain from birth through his travels in America's Wild West, switching nomenclature from Clemens to Twain as the context demands. According to Fleischman, Twain "loosened up the language for us," a fact apparent in the biographer's own delivery. To hear him tell it, Twain's accomplishments "...changed literature forever. He scraped earth under its fingernails and taught it to spit." The former magician-turned-novelist intrepidly meets the challenge of recording the life of a man who once notably said, "A lie well told is immortal," always noting when a fact or situation may or may not have actually occurred. All this makes for a more spirited and engaging biography than your average rote declaration of facts and dates. No worthier Twain bio will cross a child's path than this feisty title, filled to the brim with ample grins and sly, knowing winks. (Biography. 9-14)

Fleischman writes a charming biography of Samuel Clemens before he became Mark Twain, the great American novelist. Clemens spent his early years as something of an adventurer, alternating jobs such as riverboat captain and gold and silver miner with stints writing for newspapers in the West. As a young man, Clemens traveled by stagecoach to Nevada, traveled to the Hawaiian Islands (known as the Sandwich Islands at the time), and took a trip to the Mediterranean and the Holy Land. He used those experiences as he published accounts both for newspapers and later publication in books. In this biography for younger adolescents, Fleischman plays up the adventurer aspects of Clemens and the liberties he took with the actual truth of his experiences. Written with a sense of humor and wit that honors Twain, the book is sprinkled with famous Twain quotes, excerpts of his writing, and pictures of Twain and other primary documents from the era Clemens spent both on the Mississippi River and in the West. This biography introduces a different man to those who only know him as a novelist; he becomes a young man full of mischief and adventure.-Mary Ann Harlan.