Locked LessonsHome › Classics › The Adventures of Tom Sawyer › Pirates Come Home
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer · Chapters 15–21
Pirates Come Home
An escape room on Chapters 15–21 of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The town mourns three drowned boys, but the boys are alive, hiding on an island and planning the greatest entrance of their lives. Seven locks test what you know of Chapters 15–21 of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
Students solve seven self-checking locks and earn a word from each. At the last lock they put two of those words together to answer the final clue.
Play the free taster (2 of 7 locks)Members: full room
The taster runs in the browser, with nothing to install. Members share a private class link that opens all seven locks.
What's inside
- 7 self-checking locks: a crossword, scrambled names, a secret message, who's who, make the pairs, odd one out and a final lock
- Characters in this room: Tom Sawyer, Aunt Polly, Huck Finn, Joe Harper, Mrs Harper, Becky Thatcher, Alfred Temple, Amy Lawrence, Mr Dobbins
- Grades 6–9; works with any edition
- No logins and nothing to install; progress is saved in the browser
- Takes about one lesson
For teachers
Each room covers one section, and every answer comes from it, so it checks reading as well as recall. The seven locks:
- Crossword — ten names, places and key words from the section.
- Scrambled names — unscramble seven names or words, with a clue for each.
- Secret message — decode a shift-three cipher and answer the riddle it asks.
- Who's who — match eight characters to what they do.
- Make the pairs — complete four pairs from a set of cards.
- Odd one out — six rows on characters, places and events: find the one that does not belong.
- The last lock — choose two of the words earned in locks 1–6 to answer the final clue.
Most students take 30 to 45 minutes. They can work alone or in pairs on any device with a browser, or you can project the room and solve it together. Every answer checks itself, and progress is saved in the browser, so a room can be split across two lessons.
Note: This room uses the name Injun Joe as it appears in Twain's novel (1876). The term is now recognised as an offensive slur against Native Americans; you may wish to discuss it with students before they begin.
