Is it still appropriate to buy Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn as a gift for a 15 year old?

o my yes, they were the first books for me as a child that opened my mind to the world of exploring and adventure.

i think its still real popular:::the energy and fun of huck and tom

A 15 year old is too old for those books. Those are books for 4th graders.

Mark Twain didn't actually write those books for kids.

Tom Sawyer is a book for 6th graders (not 4th graders), but Huckleberry Finn is a book for adults.

Buy like a boxed set leatherbound edition.

I read them both when I was 8. I don't care how the book binding commission age rates them: anyone over the age of 10 is going to have either already read them or find them obvious in their insights and aimed at younger children.

Then you obviously don't know your asshole from a hole in the ground, r2/r6.

Huckleberry was cordially hated and dreaded by all the mothers of the town because he was idle, and lawless, and vulgar, and bad - and because all their children admired him so, and delighted in his forbidden society, and wished they dared to be like him.

I read them when I was eight and loved every moment. I think they’d be a little simplistic for a 15 year old.

[quote]Tom Sawyer is a book for 6th graders (not 4th graders)

We read both in 4th grade of my crappy rural public school system.

OP: literature is a thoughtful gift for a 15 year old, but I suspect he or she would prefer clothing or electronics.

[quote] Mark Twain didn't actually write those books for kids.

I’m wondering if some people are remembering reading those abridged for children type editions which cut them down to fewer than 100 pages (see below). I haven’t read either, but I remember some teachers assigning Huck Finn in high school freshman English.

Anyway, it’s a nice thought, OP. If you do give them to the teen in question, try not to be disappointed if they don’t get the same joy out of the books that you did. I was sometimes a bit let down when my niece was indifferent to gifts like that.

Thanks R11!