Do not recall hearing this specific one before:


A young boy approached Mark Twain one day, after spotting the famous author standing alone on a stone bridge in Redding, Conn. Twain was a familiar presence in the community, and the boy had awaited such a chance to express his admiration. “I was glad that he was alone,” Coley Taylor recalled years later in an article in American Heritage<https://www.americanheritage.com/content/our-neighbor-mark-twain>. “I had wanted to tell him how much I had enjoyed Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.”


But Twain’s response to the young boy’s praise was shocking. “I had never seen him so cross. I can see him yet, shaking that long forefinger at me,” Taylor recalled. “You shouldn’t read those books about bad boys!” the author scolded. “Now listen to what an old man tells you. My best book is my Recollections of Joan of Arc. You are too young to understand and enjoy it now, but read it when you are older. Remember then what I tell you now. Joan of Arc is my very best book.”



Dr. Hal Bush

Dept. of English

Saint Louis University

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author website:  halbush.com