The Extraordinary Mark Twain http://www.fishpond.com.au/Books/Extraordinary-Mark-Twain-Barbara-Kerley-Edwin-Fotheringham-Illustrated-by/9780545125086

By Barbara Kerley, Edwin Fotheringham (Illustrated by)

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About the Author

Barbara Kerley's award-winning biographies--including WHAT TO DO ABOUT ALICE? and THE EXTRAORDINARY MARK TWAIN (ACCORDING TO SUSY), both illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham, and THE DINOSAURS OF WATERHOUSE HAWKINS and WALT WHITMAN: WORDS FOR AMERICA, both illustrated by Brian Selznick--are consistently praised for their lively prose, meticulous research, and artistic presentation style. Kerley lives in Portland, Oregon. You can visit her online at www.barbarakerley.com.
Edwin Fotheringham has illustrated several notable picture books, including Barbara Kerley's WHAT TO DO ABOUT ALICE?, a Sibert Honor Book and a Boston Globe/Horn Book Award Honor Book, and THE EXTRAORDINARY MARK TWAIN (ACCORDING TO SUSY), a New York Public Library Best Children's Book. Edwin lives in Seattle, Washington. You can visit him online at www.edfotheringham.com.

Reviews

From The New York Times:
What if your child wrote a book about your life? How would the story of your days read when channeled through those shrewd, -judgmental eyes? Would you seem like God when God walked in the garden, or would you seem like Papa Doc, the tyrant, the crafter of rules and breaker of -treaties?
This is what happened to Mark Twain. His 13-year-old daughter, Susy, in secret, chronicled his life. From her notes, the source of a great new book -- \u201cThe Extraordinary Mark Twain\u201d -- you can conclude either that he was the best father who ever lived, or that he was simply favored by his era, that time before muckraking memoirs and celebrity-daughter tell-alls. Or perhaps a bit of both.
Written by Barbara Kerley and illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham, \u201cThe Extraordinary Mark Twain\u201d began with one of those tantalizing tidbits writers sometimes stumble across. Kerley, whose previous works include \u201cWhat to Do About Alice?\u201d and \u201cWalt Whitman: Words for America, \u201d happened to spot a footnote about a \u201cbiography\u201d that Susy, Twain\u2019s eldest daughter, had written. \u201cI was immediately intrigued, \u201d Kerley writes in an author\u2019s note. \u201cHaving been the parent of a 13-year-old girl myself, I know they tend to call it like they see it.\u201d
Kerley has used Susy\u2019s text, from a notebook filled with the neat cursive of the day, to construct a kind of dual bio-graphy, the story of Twain and the story of Susy telling the story of Twain. Every few pages, Kerley includes samples of the journal, minibooks stapled to the spine: \u201cHis favorite game is billiards, \u201d Susy writes, \u201cand when he is tired . . . he stays up all night and plays. . . . It seems to rest his head.\u201d
Twain is the great hero of American literature, the father of us all, the author of \u201cThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, \u201d but also the world traveler and story-spinner. K