11 h 9 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A gambler trains a frog, a calm stranger starts talking, and common sense quietly leaves the room.
In Mark Twain’s Sketches New and Old, tall tales sit beside hoaxes, mock sermons and domestic comedy. The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County brings you into a mining camp barroom, where Simon Wheeler corners a stranger with his story. At its heart are Jim Smiley, a man who bets on anything, and his carefully trained frog, Dan’l Webster.
Elsewhere, good boys and bad boys upset the rules of moral tales, newspaper men mistake confidence for knowledge, and Mrs. McWilliams fills her home with worry over a child’s health. A Medieval Romance turns noble houses, hidden identities and secret plots into parody. Through it all, Twain’s speakers deliver absurd things in calm, reasonable tones—and leave the laughter to you.
What you’ll discover
- A frog worth backing Meet Jim Smiley and the prized frog Simon Wheeler describes with such solemn respect.
- Good behavior under suspicion Watch familiar lessons about virtue and punishment lose their footing in Twain’s comic world.
- Trouble in the editor’s chair Step into newspaper sketches where a confident young narrator has plenty left to learn.
- Confusion close to home Join Mrs. McWilliams and her husband as household fears become a source of comedy.
- The art of deadpan Hear how an unhurried speaker makes an absurd story funnier by refusing to smile.
Who will love it
For readers who love dry humor, short pieces they can read in any order, and a close look at how Twain found his voice. Tall tales, hoaxes, newspaper satire and family comedies offer plenty to enjoy.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A frog tale made Twain famous
- Moral tales turned upside down
- Newspapers, hoaxes and a bad editor
- Home, health and the comic husband
- History, romance and dark jokes
- How Twain tells it and what he is after
Who’s who
- Simon WheelerA slow, calm talker in a mining camp barroom who tells the jumping frog story to a stranger without once smiling.
- Jim SmileyA gambler in Wheeler's tale who will bet on anything and who trains a frog with great care.
- Dan'l WebsterSmiley's prized frog, treated by Wheeler as a creature of talent and honor.
- Jim, the bad little boyA mischievous child who breaks every rule in the schoolbook and is expected to come to grief.
- Mrs. McWilliamsA worried parent whose fears about a child's illness fill her home with comic trouble.
- The newspaper narratorA young man in several sketches who takes an editor's chair and learns that confidence is not knowledge.
Formats and delivery
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- Audiobook
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Bocetos nuevos y viejos
by Mark Twain · 1875
Jim Smiley will bet on anything, and Simon Wheeler tells the tale of his prized frog without once smiling.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Sketches New and Old is a collection of short comic pieces by Mark Twain, published in 1875. It gathers work from the ten years before, when Twain was a young newspaperman and lecturer in Nevada, California and the East.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A frog tale made Twain famous
One of the best-known pieces is the jumping frog story, known in its first form as The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. A narrator goes to a mining camp to ask after an old friend's friend, and he is cornered in a barroom by a man named Simon Wheeler. Wheeler does not ask a single question. He just starts talking, in a flat, gentle drone, and he tells of a gambler named Jim Smiley.
Smiley will bet on anything. He bets on horses, on dogs, on a sick man's recovery, and on which of two birds will fly off a fence first. Wheeler relates all this without a flicker of a smile, as though he were reporting solemn history. That calm is the joke. The more wild the tale becomes, the more serious the speaker sounds.
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What is Sketches New and Old about?
It is a collection of short humorous pieces by Mark Twain, including tall tales, hoaxes, parodies and family comedies. The best-known is the jumping frog story, and many others mock newspapers, schoolbook morals and experts.
When was Sketches New and Old published?
It appeared in 1875. The pieces were written over about ten years before that, many for newspapers and magazines, and Twain chose and collected them himself.
What is the jumping frog story?
It is a tall tale told by Simon Wheeler about a gambler named Jim Smiley and his trained frog, Dan'l Webster. It made Twain famous and is the best-known sketch in the book.
The author
Mark Twain
1835–1910 · American humorist and novelist
Mark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, an American author born in Missouri in 1835. He lived in Hartford, Connecticut, from 1874 to 1891. He wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Prince and the Pauper (1881). He died in Redding, Connecticut, in 1910.
More by Mark Twain
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