The Andalusia Public Library kicked off The Big Read Friday afternoon with free copies of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain.

Tom Sawyer sold slowly when fist published in 1876, but has since “become the archetypal comic novel of American childhood,” the Reader’s Guide states. “Most readers pick it up young and enjoy it, but too few come back to it later on, when its dark shadings and affectionate satire of small-town life might hit closer to home.”

Patrons also were treated to cake, lemonade, and invited to make themselves bags of old-fashioned candy, choosing from lemon drops, peppermint sticks, licorice, horehound candy and rock candy.

The Big Read is funded with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Reader’s guides for the book also are available.