Animal Farm by George Orwell***

In Animal Farm, the animals have had enough of the humans when their owner, Mr. Jones, forgets to feed them. They break into the feedlot and start eating all the food. Mr. Jones comes out of the house and starts trying to whip the animals, but the animals attack him. They drive Mr. Jones off the land and burn all human items. They establish rules for the new farm, dubbed "Animal Farm." They prosper the first year, but Mr. Jones wants the farm back, so he comes with a group of men to get the farm. The animals retaliate and formulate a way to get the humans out. After they get the humans off the land, the animals start to devise a plan to make a windmill. Then the "new" leader, even though all animals are equal, kicks out the animal working on the windmill, calling him a traitor. Napoleon, the leader, kicks out Snowball, the windmill designer, making himself supreme. Napoleon keeps going with the plans of Animal Farm though, trying to seem like a good leader. Then he says that Snowball is coming in the night and ruining everything the farm has done. This enchanting tale of animals thinking our way, being like us, becoming us, is extremely interesting.

This book is super thought-provoking. It has a lot of new surprises along the way. I think that the detail was also really good. This book is an excellent examination of how humans act and how power influences us. The author had a good ending that really surprised me. I think that this book was a more advanced book and is appropriate to be read by high-school age kids.