Kids' Posts Hannibal

Here's what the kids had to say about Hannibal, MO.

First Peanut wants me to write the joke she made up: "Can a ladybug ever be a grown up man?” Grandma answers, “No, a ladybug is a bug and can’t ever be a human.” Peanut chuckles, “No, it can’t ever be a man because it’s always a lady!”

So, we went to Mark Twain's Cave and we saw money from really long ago in a treasure box under a cross, carved on the ceiling. This is the cave where Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher got lost. We’ve been listening to the Adventures of Tom Sawyer on the cd so I knew all the answer that the guide had!"

Peanut asks CurlyTop to tell the part about Injun Joe:

According to the guide, Injun Joe was a real person and friend to Mark Twain, named Indian Joe. He was a really nice man, but Twain made him a villain in the story. After he wrote the book, Joe asked his friend why he made him such a bad guy. Mark Twain said, "Well, you were the ugliest person I'd ever seen and you scared us kids to death."

The guide told us he was considered ugly because he was 1/2 Native American 1/2 African American and in those days both sides of his family rejected him. In fact, the Native American side scalped him and left him for dead. A nice white family found him and adopted him, but a couple of years later he got smallpox! So when Twain knew him, he was a mixed race, scar-faced kid with a long red wig made of horse hair. He got revenge by living much longer than Mark Twain and get this. He didn't die of old age, he got food poisoning from pickled pig's feet. Wow, right?

Little Man adds that he wants to go on another bumper boat. They have this tourist trap called Sawyer's Creek and I let them choose a ride that would cool them off.

Littel Man continues, "I went to the cave where Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher got lost even though they’re not really real. But the cave was real. When Tom and Becky were lost in there they used real candles. The guide turned off the lights for us and that’s what it looked like when all their candles burned out. They asked if any of us wanted to scream and I said, “No.” Injun Joe died in the cave but not in real life. And there was a face of Injun Joe in the cave, too, but it was just a carving made from the drippy water.

Last night I went on a huge cruise on the Mississippi River. We danced to the music with the other people and there was a trombone and a French horn. I saw the real Jackson’s Island where they went to play pirates. That’s it.”

Doodle says:

“I went in the cave and I got an ornament with Tom Sawyer on it. And I danced.”