Mark Twain (1835-1910) is a famous American writer. His name was Samuel Clemens. Young Samuel lived in Hannibal, Missouri, a small town on the Mississippi River. He loved the river and he liked watching the big boats on it.

Samuel loved adventures. He worked on boats on the Mississippi River for two years. Then he went to Nevada. He looked for treasure, but he didn't find it. He worked for a newspaper there. His stories were in the name of Mark Twain, and people loved them.

Later, Samuel lived in New York. His book The adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) is about a young boy in a small town in the 1800s. Huck Finn is his friend. The adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) is about Huck's adventures. These two books are very famous.

Today, many people visit Hannibal because they want to see Mark Twain's home and the Mark Twain Cave, the cave in The adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Tom Sawyer loves adventures. He has them at home, at school, and with his friends - Huck Finn and Joe Harper. Tom has one adventure in a graveyard, and one in a cave. Who does he see there, and why is he afraid?