It’s snowing – again. And though I have heard from people who think this is a good thing, let’s find another reason to rejoice, one that does not require shoveling or ugly boots.

Today happens to be the anniversary of the American publication of one of the best novels, ever. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was published on this date, Feb. 18, 1885.

It was published earlier in England, and when it hit here, it was immediately met with the same reaction the book receives today: controversy and praise.

Huck Finn, for those of you who have somehow not had the sheer joy of reading this, is the best friend of Tom Sawyer, hero of Twain’s massive 1876 hit. In Huckleberry Finn, Huck and his friend, Jim, a runaway slave, head down the Mississippi River on a raft.

Jim was about to be sold and wants to get to Ohio so he can be a free man. Huck narrates the book and uses language that some people continue to find offensive.

So offensive that the Concord, Mass., library banned it for its “tawdry” matter and “coarse” voice. Many libraries followed suit and even not all that long ago, in 1998, an Arizona woman sued her school district for requiring her son to read the book.

Perhaps he would have benefitted from one of the book’s many famous quotes:

“Just because you’re taught that something’s right and everyone believes it’s right, don’t make it right.”

And no less a literary giant than Ernest Hemingway said of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and American literature: “There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.”