Synopses & Reviews
is a great American novel that tells the story of a teenager's overpowering effort to avenge the murder of her father. Set in a period in history when the law was much less well-established than it is now, True Grit takes its place alongside books like and the novels of Mark Twain. It is a beloved American classic through and through. Leonard S. Marcus, renowned children's book historian, has written a wonderful afterword meant especially for a young readership, available only in this edition.
Review
“Like Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn … Charles Portis's True Grit captures the naïve elegance of the American voice.”
Review
“Portis has made an epic and a legend. Mattie Ross should soon join the pantheon of America’s legendary figures such as Kit Carson, Wyatt Earp, and Jesse James.”
Review
"Like Twain, Portis respects his young narrator as a human being with a fully developed moral sensibility, even when the adults in the novel don't."
Review
"Teens will be drawn into the book's adventure-packed storyline, strongly delineated characters, and moments of unexpected humor."
Review
"True Grit is the best novel to come my way in a very long time… Marvelous."
Synopsis
The Young Readers edition of the beloved American classic. Also available in a trade paperback edition (
About the Author
Charles Portis lives in Arkansas, where he was born and educated. He served in the Marine Corps during the Korean War, was the London bureau chief of the New York Herald-Tribune, and was a writer for The New Yorker. True Grit is the basis for two movies, the 1969 classic starring John Wayne and the 2010 version starring Academy Award® winner Jeff Bridges and written and directed by the Coen brothers.