Gary Ross says: ''Yes, this can be read by English Majors in college, and yes, the social satire may be lost on sixth graders, but this book is fundamentally about freedom and loyalty, and every kid gets that. Who wouldn't want to float down the Mississippi on a raft? Huck may the best adolescent protagonist ever.''

Read more from Gary Ross about his own new children's book, Bartholomew Biddle and the Very Big Wind in EW's Family Room