Mark Twain scholar Cindy Lovell chats with a Twain admirer before her kickoff talk in Enterprise Jan. 9.

Author Mark Twain, highly celebrated in his day, and his classic novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, still speak to readers because Twain was a rigorous truth teller, confessed Twainiac Cindy Lovell says.

Lovell, an education professor at Quincy University in Quincy, Ill., and executive director of the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum in Hannibal, Mo., brought a scholars view of Twain to the kickoff event of Fishtraps Big Read Sunday, Jan. 9.

Despite the snowy evening, several hundred gathered at the Odd Fellows Hall in Enterprise to hear her lecture, which was insightful, pointed and humorous, much like Twain.

Twain grew up as Samuel Clemens in pre-Civil War Hannibal and his stories reflect in great detail what childhood and later adulthood, of course was like. Tom Sawyer was patterned after Twain himself, Lovell said, and others in the book were inspired by real Hannibal residents including his family members.

The book is the focus of this years Big Read, whose events take place in January and February throughout the county.

Mark Twain was a truth teller, Lovell said, quoting the man: Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Then, so as to point out a human failing, Twain added, Let us economize it.

Twain wanted Tom Sawyer to be a hymn to boyhood, she noted. The experiences portrayed in the book were typical of the day, including marbles, kites, playing hooky, fishing, swimming and cave exploring.

Events in the book were based on real-life occurrences, too, she said. A sugar bowl breaking actually happened, the fault of his younger brother, Henry, but blamed on Twain.

Conditions of the era were reflected in his writings, including slavery, Indian attacks reported in newspapers, a prevalence of orphans, grave robbing and superstitions.

In his lifetime, Twain was a printers devil, steamboat pilot, prospector, journalist, lecturer, social critic, novelist, travel writer and international celebrity. Each occupation gave him new insight into human nature that found it way into his works, Lovell said.

Twain was the first author whose work was centered on America, not Europe, and he campaigned for U.S. copyright laws at a time when one had to travel to England to file for copyright and many publishers copied his and others books with no payment.

Lovell said four to five times as many copies of Twains books were sold outside of copyright as those sold with a royalty going to him.

Lovell gave her audience a preview of a major CD project she is shepherding, Mark Twain: Words and Music. It will feature numerous big-name recording artists including Brad Paisley, Jimmy Buffett, Vince Gill and Allison Kraus with Garrison Keillor as the narrator and Clint Eastwood as the voice of Twain.

The CD set, to benefit Lovells museum, will be released soon. For information: http://marktwainmuseum.org.