I also enjoyed *Mud*, but agree that the appropriations of Twain were a little awkward. I went in expecting a mystery/suspense film, so I was surprised how much of the movie was about puppy love and the idealization of boy/girl relationships (which afflicts both Mud and the main kid.) I'd taught *Tom Sawyer* at Davis just before the film came out, so the spectres of Tom and Becky loomed large for me. Seems like either the film holds up *Tom Sawyer* as an example of idealized childhood romance that the movie subverts, OR it simply situates the movie in an existing tradition of *realistic *adolescent lit by evoking Twain. It depends on how one reads *TS*, of course. I'd encourage folks to see it. Any film that features Michael Shannon singing "Help Me, Rhonda" can't be all bad. -- Nathaniel Williams University Writing Program University of California, Davis 363 Voorhies Davis, CA 95616 http://writing.ucdavis.edu/