ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell 144 pp. Penguin Group. £8.99. (Ages 13 and up) ISBN 9780141182704 Rating: ? Stars This book is set in a future when animals are much cleverer than now. And because of their cleverness, the pigs started a revolution against the humans. Pigs could speak fluently in English unlike the other animals, and that gave them the power to be leaders. But, the story that follows only happened a few years after that... Their first leader, Old Major, was kind and fair who knew animals should be equal. But when Napoleon became the leader it was very unpleasant. He made a rule that allowed the pigs to have better food and that forced all of the other animals to work crazily hard every day and night. That wasn’t enough, Napoleon wanted more power. He decided to kill his brother, Snowball, so that he would be the only leader. Snowball was admired because he came up with a clever idea to build windmill. Sn...
A TALE DARK AND GRIMM By Adam Gidwitz 272 pages. Andersen. £5.99. (Ages 9 and up). ISBN 9781849393706 Rating: 5 Stars THE GRIMM LEGACY By Polly Shulman 336 pages. Putnam Juvenile. $16.99. (Ages 10 and up). ISBN 9780399250965 Rating: 5 Stars A Tale Dark and Grimm tells you the true story about Hansel and Gretel. It is about a king who marries a beautiful princess. His faithful servant, Johannes, turns to stone for saving them. However, that’s not the whole story because then they have children and they cut off their heads so that Johannes will come back to life. Although that’s not where the story ends. The children then come back to life and run away to find new parents. Hansel and Gretel are then pushed around to different parents but never is one good enough. My favourite character is Gretel because she kills a dragon. My favourite part is when Gretel goes to a murderer’s house. I think ages eight through ...
