The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches (1867) is a collection of early short stories by Twain, considered among his best.

Life on the Mississippi (1883) is an autobiographical novel based on Twain's experiences as a river boat pilot when he was a young man.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) is regarded as Twain's masterpiece and as one of the greatest American novels of the nineteenth century. Huck Finn runs away from home along with Jim, an escaped slave, with whom he travels down the Mississippi River on a raft.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889), by Twain, is a fantastical novel in which a nineteenth-century American finds himself transported to the royal court of King Arthur in Medieval England.

Luck of Roaring Camp, and Other Sketches (1870) is a collection of short stories by Bret Harte, a "local...