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 notice now though that it's been changed to a 'U'.

I wonder what Orwell would think?

Wow, reading age of 11 at 3! Sorry to tangent off but that's seriously impressive :) I like hearing these little snippets about people.

I have a reading age of whatever-who-knows now and I adore having a story read out loud to me- audiotapes if not a real person. I practically wore out a Malory Towers tape by replaying it and replaying it- I just liked the familiar sound while I messing around with toys. IMO and IME the longer a kid is read to, the better it is. It doesn't have to be a kiddy thing to do.

Rubberduck - I know you can read books more than once but you never get back that thrill of reading it for the first time.

I still have the horrors thinking of animal farm, and i was about 12 when I read it. NOOOOooooo don't read it to your poor wee 7 year old...unless you want sobbing nightmares about the knackers yard for the next..oh...25 years.

I remember my Dad reading this to my sister for much the same reason when we shared a room (so I must have been about 9 DSis about 7) it's the only book I remember him reading that really grabbed me and I used to only pretend to read my book and listen to him. At that time we took it at face value as a story about animals- I think knowing it in that way gave it even more impact when I later understood what it meant. Triggered a love of Orwell, Huxley etc, but Animal Farm will always be my favourite, partly as I love the memory of being snuggled in bed hearing my Dad do the "four legs good, two legs bad" chant...

Thanks Latara!

Found it used on Amazon, Sounds right up my DSs street.

:)

I read Animal Farm at 10 as my teacher recommended it and I found it unutterably dull. At 16 I tried it again and really enjoyed it. Whereas I read Jane Eyre, Lord of the Rings, all the adult Roald Dahls (as well as loads of children's books) at about 9 or 10 too and loved them, though I didn't understand everything in them in an adult way. But they are books that work on many levels and I'm not sure that Animal Farm does, really.

Animal Farm is a bizarre choice to read to a child who is too young to understand it.
And to imagine you have read all the books that could possibly interest both you and your 7yo is ridiculous.

Pippi longstocking
The moomins
Stig of the Dump
The borrowers
Magic faraway tree
Little house on the prarie
Heidi
Paddington

Stories written for under 10s are quite possibly my favourite genre and reading them to children is one of my favourite things to do.
People imagining that you shouldnt read to children "because they are old enough to read to themselves" makes me really sad. I read to my 8yo and 10 yo every day. Childhood is a short and precious time and should be enjoyed and treasured for as long as possible.

Sharing stories is surely one of humanity's oldest pastimes :)

Why are some people making comments along the lines of 'you shouldn't be reading to a 7/8/9+ yr old, they should be reading to themselves'? Since when did one preclude the other? Mystifying. When those people rule the world, presumably they'll ban audio books for adults.

And thinking about it, Animal Farm was one of my 'O'-level books. (Although I read it first at 12).

But Animal Farm isn't a book for children. Just because it's got animals in, doesn't make it child friendly. Better read as a teen, along with some stuff about Russia and China. Stig of the Dump is great, as is Mary Poppins, Green Smoke, The Secret Garden, Charlotte's Web, The Tale of Despereaux, Because of Winn Dixie, Heidi and The Borrowers. Roald Dahl goes without saying, although the BFG is my fave!

Am I the only gullible child who loves 'The Twits?'

Are you prepared for when the horse is taken away?

I don't think I'd have chosen it myself, but if he's enjoying it, go for it. I always cry when Boxer's taken away (except when I'm teaching the book to teenagers - not a fan of teachers crying in the classroom! :) ) but crying at sad books isn't the end of the world, is it?

My mum read to us for years. As others have said, children can read to themselves and enjoy being read to, and sharing stories together is great at any age. I mean, that's kind of what the theatre's for, isn't it? So why not read together too?

I can't remember what my mum read to us when, but at various times we enjoyed 'The Hobbit' (and listened to the BBC radio broadcast of 'The Lord Of The Rings' - still available on CD, I think) and the 'Swallows and Amazons' series. Also 'Oliver Twist', though my mum tended to nod off when reading Dickens! At 7 we were also reading the Famous Five etc to ourselves, but I think my mum was right to choose to read us books we couldn't or wouldn't have chosen to read to ourselves.

As a child (9-10) I was a voracious reader of many 'inappropriate' books including Stephen king, jilly cooper, agatha christie amongst others. However, these were my choice (had read all my own books and started on my mother's). Not sure I would read animal farm to a child, although I think it is different if they find the book themselves but now not sure why! .

I do agree that there are loads of wonderful children's books that would perhaps be a more enjoyable experience for you both. I teach English and know animal farm well - it's not a happy tale by any means!

Zombies everywhere

Confession time: my dad still reads aloud to me and my brothers at Christmas. I'm 49 and got my PhD 20 years ago. But he is a very good reader.

depends on the child. mine read animal farm when in primary school, i think, but she preferred jane austen.

take him to a bookshop and let him choose his own book.

Dd is 7, she'll be 8 in Jan and loves being read to at night, she's years ahead in her own reading skills and a book worm in her own right, but still loves a chapter read to her before bed. We are on the last of the Harry Potter books and have worked our way through all my old Enid Blyton books, and a few left behind by my older sons.
Now from reading this thread I have a new list. I need to get the Anne of green gables books, I loved those as a kid (book worm here too) and also need to find copies Black Beauty and all my other horse stories from when I was her age.
I was going to move onto Hunger games next, but I'm not sure if she's old enough for that story yet.
Dh wanted to get her a Kindle for Christmas, not sure I'd go that far.

Zombie alert

My mum bought me the communist manifesto as an 11 year old and I haven't been quite right since. My right wing brother maintains this all stems back to reading animal farm as a child. Also the bit where boxer goes to retire is very sad :(

I don't understand why you would want to read Animal Farm to a 7 year old. It gives such a depressing view of the world. The message that a child would hear is that hard work and loyalty result in a meaningless death. I wouldn't want my 7 year old to have those ideas in her head.

But seeing as you're going to go down that road, might I suggest Of Mice and Men and Lord of the Flies as suitable follow up books? You could then introduce ideas about the impossibility of fulfilling a dream and the hidden darkness in the human soul.

I don't like a zombie thread!