Mark Twain:
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Lesson plans and teaching resources
| Twain's Biography and Background | | Digital Texts | | Lesson Plans |
Digital Texts
Downloadable text of the novel in multiple formats, including EPUB, Kindle, and plain text.
Downloadable audio files of the novel in multiple formats, including MP3, iTunes, and Ogg Vorbis.
Click at the top to navigate through this digitized edition, dated 1885.
Lesson Plans
How might students use storyboards to demonstrate and to extend their learning? Check the resources here. Includes plot summary, essential questions, word choice, vocabulary, character mapping, more.
Note: Storyboard That helps sponsor this site.
Sir Walter Scott was very popular in America before, during, and after the Civil War. Mark Twain satirizes him in
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
. What would make the incredible adventures written by a Scottish writer popular during a crisis that shook the United States to its foundation?
A study guide and links to other teaching resources. Adobe Reader or compatible application required for accessing some resources.
This teacher's guide is designed for grades 10 and 11. Using a theme of "Society's Laws vs. Higher Moral Values," it offers a summary, theme openers, crosscurricular learning activities, research assignments, and suggestions for related reading.
This teacher's guide includes background information and 12 discussion questions.
from Discovery.com.
Vocabulary, focus questions, classroom activities, and more.
Reading activities and strategies, including an anticipation guide, a Socratic seminar questioning strategy, and exploration of superstitions and students' own bad habits.
Scroll down to find a variety of activities to support the novel.
Audio files of the novel, chapter by chapter. Users can listen from the site or can download the file.
Primary sources from the Library of Congress can help deepen students' thinking around the issues central to the novel. Resources here include photographs of posters advertising rewards for the return of runaway slaves and an offer to purchase slaves, among other related links. Students are encouraged to determine whether Twain's depictions are realistic.
This lesson asks students to combine internet historical research with critical reading. Then students produce several writing assignments exploring what readers see in Huckleberry Finn and why they see it that way.
Discussion questions for specific chapters, an activity involving key quotations, writing prompts, and vocabulary.
This study guide is designed to accompany a theatrical production but contains resources and activities that will be valuable in any classroom. Exploration of satire, author biography and timeline, plot and character summary, historical background to the novel, a variety of activities to reinforce comprehension and analysis. Includes illustrations from the original edition. 53 pages; Adobe Reader required.
This handout details an assignment combining text, art, and analysis. MS-Word or compatible application is required for access.
Background, e-text, sources, ads, illustrations, reviews of
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
. Don't miss the Interactive Gallery: Illustrating Race, Class & Gender.
Designed to be used with the PBS Culture Shock video, this site contains some powerful teaching suggestions even if the video is not available.
This handout details the requirements for a paper answering the question Should
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
be taught in public schools? MS-Word or compatible application is required for access.
Students reflect on and respond to literature by creating an online scrapbook. Students then create a scrapbook using PowerPoint or another presentation software and share their online scrapbook with the class. During their presentation, students defend their choice of scrapbook entries: why is the entry important to the understanding of the topic?
From the U. S. Library of Congress: "The 1860 census was the last time the federal government took a count of the Southern slave population. In 1861, the United States Coast Survey issued two maps of slavery based on the census data: the first mapped Virginia and the second mapped Southern states as a whole." This infographic may contribute to student understanding of the background to the novel.
The original text is on the left, and an easy-to-read paraphrase is on the right. A terrific resource for ELL students and struggling readers.
Biography, background, prereading, chapter-by-chapter analysis/response questions. The last few pages have questions for related readings. Requires Adobe Reader or equivalent application for access.
A list of songs that were inspired by reading literature. Organized by the last name of the author (e.g. Chinua Achebe, William Butler Yeats), the list includes song title, performer, year of release, and more. The list includes 7 titles inspired by
Huck Finn
and one inspired by
Tom Sawyer
.
This guide is rich with resources. It includes an introduction, background information about the novel, and an extensive set of pre-reading activities addressing multiple intelligences and including an anticipation guide. The during-reading activities are organized by section of the novel. They include a summary, discussion questions, key quotations, and learning activities. The after-reading activities include more discussion questions, analysis of theme, group and individual projects, and more. A final section suggests ways to include film versions of the novel. 40 pages; Adobe Reader required.
An extensive collection of articles about Mark Twain and the novel from the archives of the New York Times.
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