Mark Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Lesson plans and teaching resources

| Twain's Biography and Background | | Digital Texts | | Lesson Plans |

Digital Texts

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Downloadable text of the novel in multiple formats, including EPUB, Kindle, and plain text.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Downloadable audio files of the novel in multiple formats, including MP3, iTunes, and Ogg Vorbis.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Click at the top to navigate through this digitized edition, dated 1885.

Lesson Plans

Teacher Guide to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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.

The Author of the Civil War
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?

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
A study guide and links to other teaching resources. Adobe Reader or compatible application required for accessing some resources.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
This teacher's guide includes background information and 12 discussion questions.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from Discovery.com.
Vocabulary, focus questions, classroom activities, and more.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Reading activities and strategies, including an anticipation guide, a Socratic seminar questioning strategy, and exploration of superstitions and students' own bad habits.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Scroll down to find a variety of activities to support the novel.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Audio files of the novel, chapter by chapter. Users can listen from the site or can download the file.

Controversy at the Heart of a Classic
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.

Critical Ways of Seeing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in Context
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.

Huck Finn
Discussion questions for specific chapters, an activity involving key quotations, writing prompts, and vocabulary.

Huck Finn
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.

Huckleberry Finn Mural Assignment
This handout details an assignment combining text, art, and analysis. MS-Word or compatible application is required for access.

Huck Finn Homepage
Background, e-text, sources, ads, illustrations, reviews of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . Don't miss the Interactive Gallery: Illustrating Race, Class & Gender.

Huck Finn in Context: A Teaching Guide
Designed to be used with the PBS Culture Shock video, this site contains some powerful teaching suggestions even if the video is not available.

Huckleberry Finn Peruasive Writing Assignment
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.

Literary Scrapbooks Online: An Electronic Reader-Response Project
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?

Mapping Slavery
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.

No Fear Literature: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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.

Study Guide for Huckleberry Finn
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.

Suggestions for Pairing Contemporary Music and Canonical Literature
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 .

A Teacher's Guide to the Signet Classics Edition of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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.

Teaching Twain and Huckleberry Finn with The New York Times
An extensive collection of articles about Mark Twain and the novel from the archives of the New York Times.

Vocabulary from Huckleberry Finn

Words are presented in context and with definitions. Click on the word for pronunciation, examples of recent usage, and more.