The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Gr 7 Up –This installment of the series takes on Twain’s subversive adventure of a boy named Huckleberry Finn and a runaway slave named Jim. After faking his own murder to escape his drunken father’s cruelty, Huck flees on a raft with Jim along the Mississippi River. What begins as a reasonably harmonious life for the two is soon disrupted by the Duke and the King, two crooks who commandeer the raft. As the group struggle in their attempted cons, Huck faces moral dilemmas. He decides he must do the right thing and use his wits to find the way to freedom with Jim. Character designs are clean, attractive, and distinguishable. While the art tones down graphic scenes (the King and Duke’s punishment is depicted in silhouette; the fallout of a shooting is bloodless), the dialogue is mostly faithful to the original text. There are some helpful resources throughout, such as an explanation of the dialects, a guide to the differences between this adaptation and the source material, and a chart on how to read manga. VERDICT This strong adaptation stays true to Twain’s satirical storytelling while also turning it into a digestible introduction for readers. Use it to help students think critically about race and class.
The classic novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is given a new twist in this manga-style graphic novel. The original text is honored and preserved whenever possible though the context is occasionally altered in order to allow the format to work successfully. All of the major events and characters from the original novel are represented, and the graphic format displays Huck & Tom’s youthful quirks and misbehaviors especially well. The more intense components of the story are captured as well, though care has been taken to walk the fine line between a too-graphic representation and an altered version of the story. Twain’s full array of colorful language, including the “n-word,” as depicted in the original has been purposely maintained. A detailed end note from the editor explains the process by which the text was adapted, illustrated, and contextualized. For those schools and people who value the original text, this manga version offers a new way to explore a classic and may offer a more exciting or interesting option for reluctant readers to engage with a required text.