Genre 4- (Non-Fiction-Biography) The Extraordinary Mark Twain

The Extraordinary Mark

Twain (According to Susy)

By: Barbara Kerley

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kerley, Barbara. 2010. THE EXTRAORDINARY MARK TWAIN. By: Edwin Fotheringham. New York, NY. Scholastic Press. ISBN: 978-0-545-12508-6

SUMMARY

The Extraordinary Mark Twain(According to Susy) is a creative and personal bibliography of the brilliant Mark Twain, being told from the eyes of his talented daughter Susy. Susy shares the “true” side of her father that only his family could attest.     

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Barbara Kerley is BRILLANT!

 The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy) is one of the most outstanding biographies for young readers I have ever read. Kerley’s writing provides her readers with an enjoyable and amusing non-fiction literature experience being told from a child’s point of view. Kerley’s information about Mark Twain is on a more personal level, which will help her young readers view Mark Twain as an individual, not just as a historical figure. “Susy observed Papa carefully-how he stopped whatever he was doing, just to confer with a cat; how he paced the floor between courses at dinner, waving his napkin to punctuate a particular point; and how he let the housekeeper know when his shirts were missing buttons.”  Kerley’s choice to utilize Susy’s actual personal journal entries, misspellings and all, as a source for information adds depth to Mark Twain’s character for her readers. “Pap was born in Misouri…. And we know papa played “Hookey” all the time and how readily would papa have pretended to be dying so as not to have to go to school!” Due to the information that is presented in Kerley’s biography of Mark Twain being on a more personal level, not just on his literary work as an author or him as a “humorist jokester”, the information could be hard to find in other biographies about the history of Mark Twain's life. Susy’s dedication to making sure his audience knows that her father isn’t just a “jokester” makes The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy) that much more original and special. “Mark Twain was a humorist. Some folks called him the funniest man in America. But he was more-so much more. “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.”   

Susy’s daily journal excerpts are cleverly designed to be separate mini-book inserts throughout the biography. Susy’s excerpts provide readers with a more reliable resource. The information that is presented about Mark Twain throughout this biography may be more believable for a young reader because the information is presented by his own daughter. 

Kerley provides her readers with a fantastic timeline of Mark Twain’s life, complete with a family picture, at the conclusion of the biography. This timeline is a great referencing tool for her readers. She also provides her readers with the sources she utilized for finding information for this text, including the handwritten notes from Mark Twain’s original manuscripts that are housed in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections at the University of Virginia Library.  

The illustrator, Edwin Fotheringham, has captured in his illustrations a time period when there was enough time in a day and families sat together at the dinner tables enjoying each other’s company. Fotheringham does an outstanding job capturing the essence of Mark Twain’s life as it was during the time period he lived. Fotheringham has also capture in his illustrations a time period when smoking wasn’t considered a health hazard, having housekeepers and butlers was a "must have" for the wealthy, and women had no place in society outside of the home. A passage from Susy’s personal journal states, “Grandma couldn’t make papa go to school, so she let him go into a printing office to learn the trade.” This passage is illustrated by Mark Twain’s mother standing over him in her apron “poking” him with the handle of a broom stick, while he lies on the ground defiantly pretending to be dead. The quote and scene portrays that women didn’t make major decisions outside of the home, and usually their opinions didn’t hold much importance.    

Fotheringham’s illustrations capture the love that Mark Twain had for his furry friends. On almost every page there is a black or brown cat right next to him. Many times the illustrations have many cats following Mark Twain from page to page. Adding these furry friends to the illustrations presents a more personal, sensitive and loving side to Mark Twain with which young readers can identify.

Fotheringham’s illustrations are brightly colored and full of intricate details that cover every area of the page. Swirly, curly lines stream loosely across pages, contributing to the easy flow of information presented throughout the biography. The inconsistency of the fonts and colors of the text, from script to bold and from black to white, captures readers’ attention keeping them curious about what the next page will hold.   

Kerley and Fotheringham have created a delightful and fun learning experience for their audience. The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy) is another perfect example of how non-fiction can be stimulating and entertaining for readers of every age.  

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

The New York Times- “Kerley reveals the essence of Alice in an upbeat account of her life.”

Booklist- Starred Review- “The large format gives Fotheringham, in his debut, plenty of room for spectacular art.”

Kirkus Review- Starred Review- “A gleeful celebration of a fully, unapologetically led life.”

CONNECTIONS

Quotes

Mark Twain has so many fantastic documented quotes. Have your children/students find their favorite quote and discuss what it means to them.

"A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read." ~Mark Twain~

Other Biography’s

Charles Dickens and the Street Children of London- Andrea Warren ISBN-13: 978-0547395746
Albert Einstein - A Life Of Genius- Elizabeth MacLeod
A Picture Book of Helen Keller- David A. Adler, John Wallner, Alexandra Wallner - ISBN-13: 978-0823409501
A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr.- David A. Albert- ISBN-13: 978-0823408474

Mark Twain Resource:

The resource below is a great source for teachers/parents who are looking for information and activities about the life of Mark Twain. You will find a huge amount of information on this site.

http://suzyred.com/2011_The_Extraordinary_Mark_Twain.html

Activities

KERA (PBS) is a great source for 5 different classroom activities. These activities can be modified depending on the target age group being taught. 

Resource: http://www.pbs.org/marktwain/learnmore/activities.html