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...
Meet Skulduggery Pleasant Ace Detective Snappy Dresser Razor-tongued Wit Crackerjack Sorcerer and Walking, Talking, Fire-throwing Skeleton --as well as ally, protector, and mentor of Stephanie Edgley, a very unusual and darkly talented twelve-year-old. These two alone must defeat an all-consuming ancient evil. The end of the world? Over his dead body. I scored a set of Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy at a used book store a few years ago. As so many books do, they sat on my shelf, unread. I finally read the first book and quite enjoyed it. I often find myself having difficulty getting into Middle Grade books. I have trouble relating to the characters. I'm thirty, so I'm old enough to be a mother of these 10-12 year old kids. It's a paranormal, action adventure. So every time poor Stephanie gets within sight of danger, I'm going "Why isn't her mother with her?" or "Go home where it's safe!" And that wouldn't be an exciting story. I thin...
