What Mark Twain novel published in 1876 features the character Tom Sawyer?

The Mark Twain novel published in 1876 that features Tom Sawyer is The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The book follows Tom, an imaginative and mischievous boy growing up beside the Mississippi River in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, Missouri.

Twain published the novel on June 9, 1876. Its setting draws heavily on Hannibal, Missouri, where Twain spent much of his childhood. Episodes such as the famous whitewashing of Aunt Polly's fence combine comic invention with memories of boyhood life, local folklore, and the social world of a nineteenth-century river town.

The novel was Twain's first major attempt at a sustained work of fiction. Although it was initially not an immediate commercial triumph, it eventually became the best-selling of his works during his lifetime. Tom's adventures include schoolboy rivalries, treasure hunting, a courtroom episode, and a dangerous exploration of a cave.

A common mix-up is to identify Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, published later, because Huck is Tom's close companion. Huckleberry Finn is the sequel, while The Adventures of Tom Sawyer introduces Tom and establishes the world they share.