John Trimmer

A Message for Boys and Girls Ages 12 and Up: How I Came to Write "Mark Twain Returns"

When I was a boy of about 11 or so, I had three major problems:

First, under the law, I was too young to do many of the things I wanted to do.

I was dying to learn to fly an airplane, but I had read in magazines that a person had to be 16 to solo an airplane. I didn't know if I could stand the wait. I was five years too young! Five years seemed like forever. And when I mentioned my frustration to grown-ups, all I ever heard was, "Be patient. You'll get there soon enough!" Wrong! Five years was NOT soon enough!

Naturally, I also wanted to drive a car. In my state, the driving age was--you guessed it-- 16. So there again, I was frozen out. And the funny thing was, I figured I already knew a lot about driving. I figured I could probably handle the job pretty well before I ever reached 16, but that wasn't what the grumpy old law-makers thought. It seemed so unfair to me that grown-ups who didn't even know me could make laws that would just lump all kids together.

My second big problem involved money. There were things that I was ready to do in life--say, fly radio-controlled model airplanes--but the coolest activities cost lots of money, which I didn't have. All I had was birthday and Christmas money, and a very thin income from delivering newspapers each afternoon. Sure, I had some money in the bank, but my mom said I couldn't spend it. It was for "my future."

My third problem was school. I didn't like it. In fact, I mostly hated it! I wasn't a bad student, but there was too much homework, and some of my teachers were mean. My least favorite subject, I'm embarrassed to say, was reading. Although I loved studying grammar, I was slow at reading and never read for fun outside of school. Reading was hard for me, and I dreaded the tests that we had to take--the scary computerized kind that tested speed and vocabulary. I didn't do well on those tests, and I wondered if I was stupid.

Now, let's push the fast-forward button and race into the future. About ten years later, after I had finished college, I decided that it was time for me to "start my real education." I went to the library, got some books, and a funny thing happened. I fell in love with reading! In fact, I loved reading so much that something even more surprising happened. I decided that I wanted to write books!

After making that decision, I thought I'd better study some of the classics so I could figure out what made a great book great. Among others, I read "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." That book made me an instant fan of Mark Twain.

Today, decades later, I love Twain not only for his great writing skill, but because he has guts. He and his characters make fun of people who need to be ridiculed. For example, Twain thought that all kings and queens were lazy frauds and moochers, living off the sweat of the people while accomplishing very little. Good for Twain! Who needs kings and queens? In our great country, we long ago chose not to support a monarchy.

Twain didn't like hypocrites, either--people who say one thing and do another. One of the grown-ups in Huck Finn, Miss Watson, is a major hypocrite. She teaches Huck to embrace the goodness of the Bible, but, at the same time, she plans to sell her kindly slave, Jim. Why? Because she can get $800 for him, and that is too much money to resist!

Another reason I like Twain is because his characters love mischief. Good ol' Huck makes up stories all the time to get out of tight spots. It's hilarious to watch him try to fib his way around problems--mainly because he's not a very good liar. Huck is kind of dense at times, but he's plenty smart when it comes to hiding out, fishing, hunting, and getting around bad people.

When I wrote my book, "Mark Twain Returns," I tried to make my boy character, Tom Drop, a lot like Huck. Tom is not the best student, but he knows what's going on in the world and he's not afraid to speak up when he sees grown-ups doing stupid things. Like Huck, Tom feels a little restless at home. He wants to get away from school and have some adventures. Well, lucky for him, Mark Twain has decided to take a week's vacation from heaven and tour around modern America. Mark needs a tour guide, and so he chooses Tom. And there you have the premise for my book: Mark and Tom, running around the country, having adventures, making mischief, and making fun of hypocrites and frauds! I think it's a book that is perfect for kids who are about 12, 13, and 14. But--now don't get upset--I think some adults will like it, too, mainly because Tom will remind them of how they felt when they were young.

If you've liked some of what I've said here, I think you'll really like the book. Why not try it out? You can read about ten percent of it for free, if you go to Amazon and ask for a sample.

Inside info.: You'll notice that the author listed first on the cover is Tom Drop. As you already know, Tom is the fictional lead character in the book. Since he narrates the book, I thought it would be funny to put his name on the cover. This might have been a mistake. I think I've confused a lot of potential readers. But never mind that. Just sample the book, and have fun. Then please let me know what you think. I wrote the book for people like you, and I'd love to hear what you think of it!

Sincerely,

John J. Trimmer