Schools : Let's read Mark Twain " The Adventures of Tom Sawyer " ! Resources

  

Mark Twain [1835-1910]

https://www.themorgan.org/

Samuel Langhorne Clemens  born on 30 November 1835,  known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. 

He was lauded as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced, and William Faulkner called him "the father of American literature". 

Tom Sawyer

Mark Twain, 1936, 1st edition

Illustration: Norman Rockwell, 1936

Abbeville Press

His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), the latter of which has often been called the "Great American Novel".

Twain transcended the apparent limitations of his origins to become a popular public figure and one of America’s best and most beloved writers. 

He died on April 21, 1910.

Google Doodle Mark Twain's 176th Birthday. 2011

https://www.google.com/doodles/

• Google Doodle:

"Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand." 

Mark Twain

Since Google never likes to take itself too seriously, I wanted to pick a scene from Twain's work that is both recognizable and funny. The fence-painting sequence from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer seemed a perfect fit. Not only does it incorporate a little bit of mischievous humor (painting fences is certainly thrilling!) it also plays cleverly with the white space of the homepage. Alluding to a comic-book format, I drew Tom and Ben working on the fence and, therefore, spreading our famous white space across the doodle."

Jennifer Hom, doodler

Mark Twain

photo portrait, 1871

https://pt.m.wikipedia.org/

American gifted raconteur, who acquired international fame for his travel narratives, especially The Innocents Abroad, a humorous travel narrative, published in 1869 and based on Twain’s letters to newspapers about his 1867 steamship voyage to Europe, Egypt, and the Holy Land.

The Innocents Abroad, or the New Pilgrims' Progress

Mark Twain, 1869

via Whitmore Rare Books

https://www.whitmorerarebooks.com/

Roughing It semiautobiographical novel, published in 1872. This humorous travel book, based on Twain’s stagecoach journey through the American West and his adventures in the Pacific islands, is full of colourful caricatures of outlandish locals and detailed sketches of frontier life.

Roughing it

Mark Twain, 1872

https://en.wikipedia.org/

And Life on the Mississippi, memoir of the steamboat era on the Mississippi River before the American Civil War, published in 1883.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 

Mark Twain, 1936

illustrations Norman Rockwell

https://www.biblio.com/book/

But his adventure stories of boyhood, especially The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) are well known in schools. Teachers and students can find it at the school library.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 

Mark Twain

illustrations Norman Rockwell, 1936

via Mark Twain House blog

“Most of the adventures recorded in this book really occurred; one or two were experiences of my own‚ the rest those of boys who were schoolmates of mine. Huck Finn is drawn from life; Tom Sawyer also‚ but not from an individual – he is a combination of the characteristics of three boys whom I knew‚ and therefore belongs to the composite order of architecture… Part of my plan has been to try to pleasantly remind adults of what they once were themselves‚ and of how they felt and thought and talked‚ and what queer enterprises they sometimes engaged in.”

Preface

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 

Mark Twain, 1876

illustrations Norman Rockwell

via AbeBooks

With books like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Life on the Mississippi, Twain explored many of the seemingly carefree idylls of the typical American boy’s life.

There are different editions illustrated by different artists. However, my choice goes to Norman Rockwell. One of my favorite artists and illustrators.

Norman Rockwell was born in 1894 (during Twain’s lifetime) and grew up in New York City (where Twain spent many of his later years), the two men never met.  

Rockwell’s first works as a professional illustrator were not published until 1912, two years after Twain’s death.  As such, they were of two different eras.  So why are Rockwell and Twain twinned in many ways in the public consciousness?

"These were classics. I read through the books, making notes of which scenes would make good pictures. Of course certain scenes—for instance, Tom whitewashing his Aunt Polly’s fence—were required."

Norman Rockwell

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 

Mark Twain

illustrations: Norman Rockwell, 1936

via Mark Twain House blog

• Education:

I believe that students should read the old classic novel Adventures of Tom Sawyer. This book is cleverly written, if not a bit antiquated. Honestly this timeless classic is more readable for high school students looking for an adventure. And they love adventure.

His characters are as sincere as they are funny and playful. His work is iconic and a part of literary history. 

Some schools banned the book for the free use of the local vernacular in Twain writing. But this shows the ease with which the word was in the common vocabulary of the time (literary Realism) and its use makes no difference in the way people acted in this story.

"Not only is reading this book an educational experience for growth and human contact as a young person, but it also helps with language development and understanding of complex ideas." 

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 

Mark Twain

illustrations: Norman Rockwell, 1936

via Mark Twain House blog

The book is considered by many to be an American masterwork. Its reading in school should, in fact, find ways to read it. Literature often deals with social criticism. Let your students express their criticism. They will have the skills of crtical thinking.

Since this book is a classic it is widely accepted as a well written and wonderfully developed story line which can only add to the knowledge base of any high school student. 

If an assigned reading, it would be interesting to note whether the Tom Sawyer Huck Finn sequels get taken out of the school library more often.

"Teach it, and use the change in attitudes over time as another component of the education. If children don’t learn where we came from, they have no sense of where we’re going."

Randy Welter

With so many books we are required to read, this should by far be the one of the most assigned.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 

Mark Twain

illustrations: Norman Rockwell,1936

via Mark Twain House blog

• Resources: 

- Mark Twain House &Museum & Educational Resources

https://marktwainhouse.org/

https://marktwainhouse.org/teachers-students/educational-resources/

- Online exhibition

Mark Twain: A Skeptic's Progress

https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/mark-twain

- e-Book online: 

e-book The Innocents Abroad, or the New Pilgrims' Progress

Project Guttenberg : https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm

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

Mark Twain

G-Souto 

30.11.2021

update 08.08.2026

Copyright © 2021G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

Schools : Let's read Mark Twain " The Adventures of Tom Sawyer " ! Resources by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. 

Arts Education : Lotte Reiniger, the pioneer of animation : resources

Lotte Reiniger

credits: Keystone Press

via Alamy

Lotte Reiniger working on her 1953 animated film, “The Magic Horse,” with hand-cut silhouette figures.

Before Pixar, even Disney, Lotte Reiniger told fanciful stories in animated films with her hand-cut paper silhouettes.

Credit...Credit..Keystone Press, via Alamy

The Adventures of Prince Achmed
Lotte Reiniger’s film, 1926

Photograph: YouTube/ Doodle 
via The Guardian

"A decade before Walt Disney Productions came into existence, making its name synonymous with animated films, there was another pioneer of the art form— Lotte Reiniger."

Devi Lockwood, NYT

In the 2010 film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, animator Ben Hibon used Reiniger's style of animation in the short film titled "The Tale of the Three Brothers".

Google Doodle:

What a lovely interactive Doodle! The Google's team Olivia Huynh (animation) and Silas Hite (original music) honor Lotte Reiniger with a creative Doodle.

Nearly a century before Pixar was founded, and more than a decade before Walt Disney would start there was Lotte Reiniger — the subject of today's Doodle.

Charlotte 'Lotte' Reiniger was born 117 years ago, on 2 June 1899 in the Charlottenburg, district of Berlin. As a child, she was fascinated with the Chinese art of silhouette puppetry. She built her own puppet theatre, so that she could put on shows for her family and friends.

"The silhouettes were very much praised, and I cut out silhouettes for all the birthdays in the family. Did anyone warn me as to where this path would lead? Not in the least; I was encouraged to continue."

Lotte Reiniger

Hans Christian Andersen had the same passion: Chinese art of silhouette puppetry and he have wonderful works.

The Art of Lott Reiniger

https://www.iamag.co/

Reiniger is known to have worked on—or contributed silhouette sequences to—at least another seven films in the silent era, and a further nine in the sound era. Additionally, there is evidence of her involvement in a number of film projects that remained at conceptual or pre-production stages.

She created visually stunning and fantastical films using black cardboard, scissors, and boundless imagination. 

Reiniger pioneered a style of animation that relied on thousands of photos of paper cut-out silhouettes arranged to tell a story. It was a painstaking process that involved moving paper characters ever so slightly and snapping a photo of each movement. 

She made one of the world’s first animated features, a whirlwind of a fantasy film called The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926). 

Reiniger’s filmmaking career spanned 60 years, during which she created more than 70 silhouette animation films, including versions of Cinderella, (1922), Puss in Boots (1936) and “Hansel and Gretel (1955).

She’s perhaps best known for her 1926 silent film The Adventures of Prince Achmed, a fantastical adaptation of “The Arabian Nights” that was among the first full-length animated features ever made.

Reiniger made more than 40 films over her career, all using her invention.

Lotte Reiniger

https://www.bfi.org.uk/

Some information:

Films were Reiniger’s passion: as a child she was delighted by the trick films of Georges Méliès, and later the dreamy horrors of Paul Wegener. 

George Méliès, was considered the best film director in the world. The point to be named for Charlie Chaplin's "The Light Alchemist".

In addition to be considered the "Father of Special Effects", Mélièrs made more than 400 films and built the first film studio in Europe.

It was also the first filmmaker to use drawings of production and storyboards to design your scenes.

Lotte Reiniger

http://i2.wp.com/blog.bcdb.com/

As a young woman and keen to work with Wegener, Lotte found a job designing silhouettes for the intertitles in his films. 

Her first step into animation proper was on his film The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1918). Wegener found he could not control live rats (or even guinea pigs) on set, so Reiniger was tasked with animating wooden rodents, stop-motion style.

Lotte Reiniger's animation

https://www.iamag.co/

“The projection was a triumph,” Reiniger remembered. “Those rats really moved as erratically as you would expected panicky rats would and they followed the Piper all right.”

In the 1960s, Reiniger stopped working and lived in London. But by the 70s her work was being revived and she toured the world talking about her career. In 1979 she made the gorgeous The Rose and the Ring, from a Thackeray story, before dying in 1981, back home in Germany.

British newspaper article about Lotte Reiniger

https://milestonefilms.com/

"One of the most touching things was a British newspaper article talking about how Lotte created puppets from discarded laundry soap boxes. She scavenged cardboard and paper where she could — anything to continue her art."

Susan Stone

Reiniger was awarded the Filmband in Gold of the Deutscher Filmpreis in 1972; in 1979 she received the Great Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. 

She died in Dettenhausen, Germany, on 19 June 1981, at the age of 82.

Education:

Animated movies offer teachers and students a awesome motivating push to learn differently. Let your students have an incredible adventure exploring animation films to learn about novels and the Narrative text.

Displaying movies in a lesson is an important method to help students learn about animation and the Narrative text.

  

Students will create better storytelling, including good plots, characters and narrative points of view, the crucial elements of the Narrative text.

Lotte Reininger will be a reference and an inspiration to the students who will study Animation and Cinema on Higher Education.

We Owe a Lot to Lotte Reiniger from Fandor on Vimeo.

Resources:

"I believe in the truth od fairy tales more than I believe in the truth in the newspaper."

Lotte Reiniger

Videos:

• Behind the Doodle: Lotte Reiniger (video above) - students of Arts

• George Méliès, was considered the best film director in the world. He was named by Charlie Chaplin's "The Light Alchemist". In addition to being considered the "Father of Special Effects", made more than 500 films and built the first film studio in Europe.

Lotte Reininger: The Fairy Tales Films:

A collection of the Reininger's short tales complete with wonderful soundtracks and charming narration. The films screened in this programme are: The Frog Prince, The Gallant Little Tailor, The Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Rose Red, Cinderella, Puss in Boots.

Today’s Google Doodle commemorating Reiniger’s work shows the artist inside one of her films, moving from her desk through a succession of fairytale scenarios surrounded by the fruit of her imagination.

G-Souto

02.06.2016

Copyright © 2016G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

Arts Education : Lotte Reiniger, the pioneer of animation : resources by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.