Banned Book Club Selection #3
In response to the drastic increase of challenges from the right against controversial books, often involving important themes of race, gender and sexuality, let's read some banned books!
Welcome back to the SHERO Banned Book Club! I am pleased to announce our next selection: Animal Farm by George Orwell. This is a unique political allegory where the animals of Manor Farm overthrow the farmer and decide to run the farm themselves. This world-famous fable, first published in England in August 1945, tells the story of a revolution and its aftermath where the animals pursue the goal of creating a society that can be equal, free, and happy. Ultimately, the rebellion is betrayed and the farm ends up in a state that is arguably worse than it was before thanks to an especially large pig — the parallels to our current struggles are countless.
For those of you who like to read along with a study guide with questions, you can find those here. If you like to read for leisure and don’t want a classroom format, then read without the study guide, as it will not be necessary to participate. I will be discussing the book on my SHERO podcast on May 19th at 5:00 pm/ET and you can call in live to discuss it with me. Feel free to leave questions or comments on this post if you have them before May 19, just make sure not to reveal any spoilers for those who may be behind you.
Let’s read!
Amee Vanderpool writes the SHERO Newsletter and hosts the live SHERO podcast on Callin. She is an attorney, published author, contributor to newspapers and magazines, and analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.
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Love this book! Will read again.
My 6th grade teacher read this to our class back in ‘67. Awesome teacher and fav book. Plan on reading some of the banned list to my grandkids. Always a subversive to the establishment.