Huckleberry

I’m coming near the end of reading every single word of Mark Twain’s HUCK FINN to my second block class.  As bad as they hate to admit it, they are getting sad, they know that the book is about to come to a close, they know they soon have to say goodbye to Huckleberry and to Jim.

Why do I teach this novel?

A.  a lot of my students have been raised by racists; it’s my way of getting back

B.  a lot of my kids have had alcoholic or drug addicted parents and need to know it doesn’t mean they have to turn out that way, too

C.  a lot of my students wonder about praying, and so does Huck, and sometimes, so do I

D.  a lot of my students need a friend, and Huck and Jim become their friends while we’re reading this together

E.  I love Mark Twain’s humor, and I want them to love it, too

F.  I love what Mark Twain has to say about “do gooders” and “frauds” and “dreamers” and want to share his philosophy with my students

G.  I love the dialect of small-town Missouri in the 1800’s and love reading aloud Jim and Huck and Tom and all the memorable characters in this story

H.  I love Huckleberry, and all the Huckleberries that walk through my classroom door each year

Who are my students?  mostly white, mostly raised in rural Kentucky, mostly middle-class (with some who are downright poor), hunters, fishers, some dreamers, some artists, some mischievous, some very smart, some not so smart, most from broken homes, some who have just about given up on life already and who need to see that Huckleberry never gives up on himself or his friends.

I love teaching HUCK FINN.