# The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

**Author:** Mark Twain
**Lexile:** 980L
**Grade range:** Grades 10–12
**Age range:** 15–18
**First published:** 1884
**Page count:** 412
**Genre:** Literary Fiction
**ISBN-13:** `9780143107323`
**ISBN-10:** `0143107321`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/the-adventures-of-huckleberry-finn
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

Twain's novel follows Huck Finn, a runaway white boy, and Jim, a man escaping slavery, as they travel the Mississippi River on a raft in the antebellum South. A core American Literature text assigned in 10th-11th grade, and one of the most contested books in US schools for its use of racial slurs.

## Themes

- slavery and freedom
- friendship across race
- civilization vs nature
- hypocrisy
- Southern society
- moral development

## Content notes

- racial slurs (frequent, historical context)
- violence
- depiction of slavery

Common Sense Media age recommendation: 14+

## Where this book is assigned

### AP English Literature & Composition

- **recommended** · 11th grade — [source: AP Lit representative text](https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-english-literature-and-composition)

### Common Core State Standards (ELA)

- **recommended** · 11th grade — [source: CCSS ELA Appendix B, grades 11-CCR exemplar](https://achievethecore.org/page/2699)
- **recommended** · 11th grade · Missouri — [source: Missouri Learning Standards grade 11 aligned (Hannibal/MS River setting)](https://dese.mo.gov/)

## Banned / challenged record

Documented removals or formal challenges in at least one school district in 3 states: TX, VA, MO. Source: [PEN America's Index of School Book Bans](https://pen.org/banned-book-list/) 2022-2024.

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