The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain is a popular 1876 vel about a young boy growing up in the antebellum South. The story is set in the town of St Petersburg, inspired by Hannibal, Missouri, where Mark Twain grew up. In the story's introduction, Twain tes: Most of the adventures recorded in this book really occurred; one or two were experiences of my own, the rest those of boys who were schoolmates of mine. Huck Finn is drawn from life; Tom Sawyer also, but t from an individual-he is a combination of the characteristics of three boys whom I knew, and therefore belongs to the composite order of architecture. Source: http: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Tom_Sawyer