The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

I am 56 years old and had never read this book, and finally ordered one. I LOVED it.

Mark Twain had a wicked sense of humor. Sometimes it got him in embarassing scrapes, like his famous disaster at the banguet for Jame Russel Lowell. Old Mark wouldn't have been comfortable with "political correctness" - no matter who defined it. Twain wrote some wickedly funny essays about the ludicrous (to him) German language, and he wasn't any more merciful to French. In this little book, he finds himself astonished (disingenuously) at reading a translation of his famous story "the Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" into French. The volume in hand contains that story, the translation, and for our amusement, Twain's retranslation of his story from French to English: "It there was one time here an individual under the name of Jim Smiley; it was in the winter of '49, possibly well at the spring of '50, I no me recollect not exactly. This which makes me to believe that it was the one or the other, it is that I shall remember that the grand flume is not achieved when he arrives at the camp for the first time..." and so on through the whole tale. Gruelingly funny, but perhaps it is that hardly lest one shall whenself have studied the french...

Mark Twain's "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calavaras County" is a story of the crusty Jim Smiley, a man who so loved to bet on animals - horses, dogs, cocks, etc. - that he trained a frog to be the strongest jumper in the county. This illustrated edition of Twain's classic tale is in three parts: the original tale published in 1865, the first French translation of the story, and Twain's tongue-in-cheek verbatim translation "to the English after maryrdom in the French." Throughout, Twain's broad yet graceful humor is beautifully complemented by the elegant woodcuts of Alan James Robinson. Finely reproduced, these illustrations bring Twain's comic tale to life. --- from book's back cover

Mark Twain has written 200 stories and essays. These 13 short stories are as full of description and feeling, and humor as a whole novel (A novel is 50,000 words or more, usually more.). In each one you see a new perspective, and a new since of Mark Twain's imagination. "The Celebrated Jumping Frog" is a humorous story about a man who had a frog that could jump higher than any other. Well, he made a bet with a sly man, and he went off to catch a frog for the man, the man filled the "Celebrated Jumping Frog" with quiall shot, and the frog wouldn't move. It is funny, and he uses a very heavy southern accent when he is telling the story, sometimes it is hard to read, but still very funny. "The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg" is the second best of these stories. Hadleyburg is a town that every other town wants to be, it is clean, small, and has never been corrupted. No one ever falls into temptations here. A man that was badly treated here wanted his revenge... The story is very good, and has a great meaning in the end, every mortal falls into temptation, and those who think they dont are liars. This story goes along the same story line as "Was it Heaven? or Hell?" It's about two old aunts whose niece is very sick, the daughter of the niece also becomes ill. The aunts hate lieing, but in the end they lie continually to the mother, and telling her that her daughter is just fine. It leaves an open ending, so you can decide if is "Was Heaven, or Hell." "A Fable" is about a bunch of animals who stumble across the mirror. The cat says it is a picture of a cat, the elephant said he only saw a big beautiful elephant, and so on, and so on. The moral, by the cat is:"You can find in a text whatever you bring, if you will stand between it and the mirror of your imagination. You may not see your ears, but they will be there."Isn't Mark Twain great? I would never think of a story like that, that would get you such a good grade on an English report.The story that totally blew me away was "An Extract From Captain StormFields's Visit to Heaven." It's about a man who dies, and spends 30 years in space looking for heaaven, he ends up in another part of heaven that isn't for his world, here is an extract from the book: "Well, Sir," I says, pretty humble, "I dont seem to make out which world it is I'm from. But you may know it from this--it's the world the Saviour saved." "He bowed his head" (The clerk at that heaven) "at the Name. Then he says, gently--'The wolrds He has saved are like the gates of heaven in number--none can count them." Mark Twain was very imaginative in his writings, and could make a wonderful story out of any little thing. "A Dog's Tale" is sad, and joyous, and humorous in just 12 pages (Hardback), I dont want to ruin this story for you, so I'll let you read it yourself. These are all very great stories, and I wouldn't have written so much if I thought otherwise.Mark_Sigel

This is a super book, to read aloud or for kids to try on their own. The pictures are fun and Twain is (of course) delightful. You won't regret buying this book.