opinions on reading 'animal farm' to a 7 year old

[thechairmanmeow]

i'm sure he wont get the full ethos of the book allthough i will try to explain it to him as we go, and it possibly has more to do with me being fed up with christopher robin discovering the north pole again. were on page 2, 3rd night reading now, about 15 minutes every night, seem to be ok so far, but i'm curious what the rest of you think?

I adored 'grim' when I was a child..in fact Grimm's Fairy Stories (which were pretty horrible) was a fascinating staple!

YANBU, nothing bad can come of converting them to communism from an early age. I taught my kids to be communists, and my eldest has just left university with a degree in politics, while the others are all getting A*s in their GCSEs and A-levels. Communism is a sound principle, and the more people agree with it, the better.

I read Animal Farm at about age 8, as part of my school's English curriculum and read it again out of choice when I was 14. I understood enough at 8, far more at 14 and cried when Boxer was sent to the slaughterhouse both times but then again I would still cry at that now.

Imho YANBU to read it to your children.

itsbob thanks for making me spit all over my screen.

I watched the film as a child and cried for days!!

itsbob for making me chuckle.

I wouldn't read it to an 8 year old myself but that's more because I'm not that keen on the story. I have read To Kill a Mocking Bird to mine when they were too young to read it for themselves.

Surely it depends on the child? Some wont like/understand/be able to cope with it, and some will.

I know I was reading stuff like Animal Farm at about 10, but would probably have loved to have read it even younger.

If he's enjoying it it's OK.

I think Orwell is a bit basic for most 7 year olds - certainly mine found his crass hit-you-round-the-head-with-it laboured analogies rather tiresome by that stage.

If they do like political satire though, The Trial is great if their German is up to it: you could always then move on to Metamorphosis, especially if ds is into minibeasts! Le Rouge et le Noir also kept my two entertained on a long haul flight, but did have to translate some of the trickier words for them!!

I mean honestly

Seriously though - it actually doesn't work on two levels, it works on one very obvious level which, if you're not interested, will render the book pretty pointless.

There is no 'nice story about animals' in there, and if you tried to read it as a story about animals I think you would end up very bored and confused. The political parallels are crashingly obvious, and there is no point reading it if you want to leave them to one side, because if you take that out, you are ignoring what the bookl is - an allegory!

I think it's a silly, show-offy choice, to be honest.

If he can't read it himself I wouldn't read it to him.
What's wrong with a bit of Roald Dahl?

That's what I was trying to say Original

The kid doesn't get a whole lot out of it. But since OP mentioned the kid 'already knows' about Lenin and the tsars I suspect the plan is to get him talking about it.

My seven year old likes to lick trees and work out if Ben Ten is going to turn into Humungosaur or not. I think the historical downfall of russian communism and the propensity for greed in a mass mindset might be a bit beyond him. And I kind of like that innocence. Plenty of time for tragedy and corruption in a while. Maybe when he is eight and childhood is over. In other words YABU. Its too soon.

My favourite book age 7 that i read over & over again... was about 2 children who found themselves in a person's dream when they fell asleep counting sheep but the boy counted dragons instead so the children had to save the sheep from the dragons... happily they did & no sheep got eaten by dragons. The End.

Try James & the Giant Peach. Or the BFG. Or Matilda; or Charlie & the Chocolate Factory? Even a bit of Secret Seven or The Faraway Tree??
I used to like The Wickedest Witch too.

you read to an 8 and 11 year old? surely they should be reading for themselves at that age

My dad read to me before bed until I was 13!! It was a lovely time and one of my best memories was having the Hobbit read to me when I was very little- and then when I was older, choosing the books myself, alternating. Subjecting him to Trebizon and the Babysitters Club! When he read Harry Potter I'd quote along as he read it- and I didn't read Harry Potter until 11/12. I read before he came up to tuck me in and after lights went out, holding the curtain open so the light could come in, and all day when I could. It just made me feel loved and my dad enjoyed it. You're never too old to be read to...

Oh, and I wouldn't have understood anything of it at 7- I didn't know anything about the USSR until a couple of years ago! (A levels) in fact, when I read it the first time at 13 or so, I vaguely knew it was "about Russia"...a waste on me, so I can hardly say I've read it.
I was reading some heavy lit around 7, but the allegory would have been completely lost on me because I had no clue about that period in that part of the world, about the political in-fighting that went on. Like others have said it depends completely on what they know- the history isn't too hard to grasp though- not so much the kid.

Interesting choice, though, OP! If he likes that, how about Hans Christian Anderson- he's brilliant and his stories have morals a bit more suitable maybe. Or even the 39 Steps/The Invisible Man. They're straightforward adventure stories, well, the second isn't, but it works as one.

Do you remember the name of that book Latara?

Sounds really good.

I first read Animal Farm aged 10 (it had been put back in the children's section of the library by mistake). Obviously took it at face value and loved it, so I dispute the idea that it doesn't work on two levels, especially for children.

AllYoursBabooshka - I actually still have it... (embarrassed face).
Hidden in a drawer with other childhood stuff i rescued when my Dad cleared out his loft..
I just got it, so: It's ''Ninety-nine Dragons'' by Barbara Sleigh - a Puffin books reprint from 1983 - so i would have been exactly 7!
It cost 90p new!!

This is written on the back cover:
'I think sheep are soppy,' said Ben scornfully, so he sent dragons jumping over a gate to help him go to sleep instead - but he never intended the ninety-nine greedy dragons to jump into the same field as his sister's fifty woolly sheep!

Far more exciting than communist facist or whatever pigs i think.

I wonder if the dragons were actually evil fascist soldiers invading the great sheep collective in the sky?? ;)

Reading age is irrelevant in this case though isn't it fridge

I'm sure a 7 yearold could read all the words (IIRC the language isn't that complex). It's the concepts which a 7yo will struggle with

Apparantly, the 1954 release of the film was an 'X' certificate.
It certainly isn't supposed to be a children's book or cartoon.

I second the poster who suggested Terry Pratchett (i would, wouldn't I?). The Carpet People, Truckers, Diggers etc books would be brilliant to read to a 7 year-old.