Animal Farm

Animal Farm by George Orwell, ISBN 0451526341, Signet Classics 50th Anniversary Edition 1996, originally published in 1946, 140 pages.
Teaser: George Orwell's satirical look at a worker's revolution gone wrong.
Plot Summary: The animals live on Manor Farm owned by drunken Mr. Jones.  One day the old boar, Old Major, calls all the animals to a meeting comparing the humans to parasites and leading the animals in song.  When the Old Major dies, two pigs, Napoleon and Snowball take charge and adopt the Old Major's philosophy with the animals. The animals revolt and take over Mr. Jones' farm and rename it "Animal Farm." The pigs come up with The Seven Commandments of Animalism to ensure order on the farm.  The most important being the seventh: "All animals are equal".  Eventually the pigs gain more power and they slowly start to abuse that power within the Farm.  Some of the rules are rewritten to help the pigs.  There is also the incident involving the windmill being blown up by a neighboring farmer and the animals work hard to save the windmill.  Some overwork themselves and it is revealed that Napoleon and Snowball have been abusing their powers and buying alcohol with the farms money.  Eventually the pigs learn to walk on two feet, even though that was considered bad in the beginning.  And by the end the power has taken over the leaders and the farm is never the same. 
Critical Evaluation: George Orwell wrote this book from his own disillusionment with Soviet Communism.  The books showcases how privilege and power can corrupt even the best people.  Many of the events mirrored the events that happened in the Soviet Union.  This is a great book to read to learn about Soviet Communism and to teach students that power and privilege is not all that it is cracked up to be. This book is very anti-Soviet and it had a tough time getting published but it eventually did and it has become a classic used in high school english classes around the country.
Author Information: Eric Blair was born in 1903, in Motihari, Bengal.  He moved to England at age one and studied at Eton.  He did not want a university education so he joined the Indian Imperial Police in Burma.  In 1928 he resigned because he had grown to hate imperialism.  He began writing and in 1933 came up with the pen name, George Orwell.  He decided on that name because of his love for English tradition and the countryside.  After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Blair volunteered to fight for the Republicans against Franco's Nationalist uprising, where he fought as an infantryman. Many of his books were influenced by his participation in the Spanish Civil War.  "He also depicted what he saw as the betrayal of that workers' revolution in Spain by the Spanish Communist Party, abetted by the Soviet Union and its secret police, after its militia attacked the anarchists and the POUM in Barcelona in May 1937." (http://www.george-orwell.org/l_biography.html). He has written many books and is the most known for 1984  and Animal Farm. He died in 1950.


Genre: Classic

Curriculum Ties: English literature class/Politics/History Booktalking Ideas: Talk about how the temptations of power and privilege can change a person (animal). Reading Level/Interest Age: 16+
Challenge Issues: If the book was challenged I would go to, ALA's Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials.

Why Included:  Many high school English teachers teach this book.  I read this book when I was in high school so I wanted to include it.