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=The Trouble Begins at 8: A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West= by Sid Fleischman Review posted by Ms. Cook, WMS Literacy and Technology Coach

I just finished reading an interesting autobiography of Mark Twain entitled __Trouble Begins at 8__. I discovered that Mark Twain got his name from the measurements that he learned while a riverboat captain on the Mississippi River. When the call of "mark twain" goes out on the river, it means that you are in deep enough water (at least 12 feet deep) so that it is safe to navigate in that part of the river. He changed his name from Samuel Langhorn Clemens because he was afraid that people might not like his writing and he didn't want them to know what his real name was. That's why he started using the pen name (or pseudonym), Mark Twain.

This book focuses on Mark Twain's early life when he was growing up in Missouri and when he traveled out west after the Gold Rush days and tried to get rich mining silver. The title of the book comes from the lectures that Mark Twain used to do out in the Wild, Wild West. The posters that were used to advertise his lectures said, "Doors open at 7. Trouble begins at 8". That was his way of being funny even on his posters before he became a famous writer.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes biography or history or Mark Twain. There are lots of great pictures and illustrations that you'll find very interesting and that will help you learn more about the life and times of Mark Twain.