I love the rainbow fairies!

Just a baby bird

While I've read Orwell's other most famous work, 1984, I had never read animal farm before. I especially enjoyed the preface to the version I read, from C.M. Woodhouse in 1954. Woodhouse defines the structure of Animal Farm as a fairy tale, because it employs archetypal characters to describe the state of human ambitions and nature as they are, not as they should be. Based on Woodhouse's remarks and on outside research, Orwell, a democratic socialist, wrote Animal Farm as a model of the Russian revolution and the rise of Stalin's regime. The result being the Russian people suffering terrible famine and being in an equally poor situation as they were in before the revolution. Not being too familiar with the Russian revolution myself, I think even the most uninformed student of history will recognize the themes in Animal Farm of greed, corruption, and power. I think even a child could recognize the dangers of herd mentality and the detrimental impacts of remaining silent while freedoms are stripped away. One interesting tidbit of information I came across was that the CIA adopted the book and used it to their advantage to help their anti-communist initiative in the McCarthy era. Shortly after Orwell's death, the CIA obtained the film rights and employed a British animation firm to produce a film, to help give the appearance of it not being an American initiative. The CIA also harbored a great deal of suspicion towards Hollywood's friendliness with Communism, anyways. Also interesting to note, they took the liberty of redirecting the books anti -capitalist themes to be strictly anti-communist in the film. The film underperformed compared with the far-reaching success of the book, but it's an interesting example nonetheless of how media and entertainment can be influential in shaping ideological landscapes. I enjoyed the story and would recommend it; I would say this is one students would benefit from reading in school.

Lovely magazine with faith-building stories and scriptures that bring you closer to Jesus Christ.

To my regret, sixteen years ago in Ms. McCullough's 10th grade English class, I cheated on my book report and didn't actually read this book as intended by the assignment. Instead, I read the SparkNotes version. My twisted moral reason being that this lie was better than reading a book with "witchcraft and magic." Such material was prohibited in my upbringing. Years later, I saw the film as an adult along with the other Lord of the Rings films and was quite fascinated with the tale of courage and found middle earth completely captivating. During this winter reading challenge, I was delighted to find the book on Libby and had every intention of correcting this wrong of sixteen years ago by reading it (listening). It wasn't until I was about halfway through that I realized it was a 1968 BBC radio dramatisation that, while apparently a classic in its own rite, leaves a great deal of content out from the original book. I hope this is still considered an audiobook as it was on Libby, but I was dismayed to find that it was not, in fact, the original book. The task remains for me to read the other book, but I did enjoy this retelling nonetheless.

It was funny because it wasn’t even scary

Wonderful book with beautiful illustrations. My kids and I found it a great introduction to Lincoln's early life as well as a very enjoyable read.

Walter Dean Myers had a way of writing this story to make you feel everything. At least for me his story held a sort of nostalgia, for the recklessness of being a kid with the knowledge that the only people you had to answer to being your parents. Then as he ages you remember those emotions in tandem with him, the feeling of being lost, of losing the confidence you once held because now you understand your different, of not being able to hide. It was written in a way where you felt both empathetic to him and yourself because you can see yourself in Walter Dean Myers, even if your lives had been drastically different, it's the emotion that you remember. From childhood invincibility to the warm feeling of recognition as an adult. The scope of this book is amazing.

It was CRAZY!

Good