What age for Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm?

[Anonymous]

My kids all got assigned Animal Farm in 7th or 8th grade (7th if in Honors & 8th if in regular English).

LoTF was assigned summer reading for 2 of my kids between 8th & 9th grade. The others had it assigned in 10th grade.

[Anonymous]

Middle school

[Anonymous]

My 6th grader just finished Animal Farm in school and has read Lord of the Flies as well on her own. She definitely understood them just fine (they aren’t difficult books, in fact the opposite) but didn’t really enjoy them as she doesn’t like things that she seems scary.
My 4th grader is reading The Hobbit in school which I would argue is a harder book to read (from a reader’s perspective with all of the unusual words and names). He wants to read Lord of the Flies next on his own when he finishes the other book he’s reading and I think he will be fine with it.

For contrast, I recall reading The Hobbit in 6th grade for school and Animal Farm in 8th. Our South African au pair told us that AF is a senior year in HS book in South Africa which shows just how books are considered differently in different parts of the world.

[Anonymous]

The Hobbit is definitely a book that can be read, fully understood, and enjoyed by kids in elementary school. Such a good book.

[Anonymous]

1. Amazon’s customers say 14+

2. You can review specific reasoning at common sense media, which says 13+: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/animal-farm

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Hobbit is definitely a book that can be read, fully understood, and enjoyed by kids in elementary school. Such a good book.

Of course it can, but I’d say the language used in it (plus the length) make it a more challenging book to read than animal farm which is essentially a novella and quite simple in its writing style. The themes are harder to understand of course.

[Anonymous]

DS read Animal Farm in 7th and liked it, but he's 15 now and still says Lord of the Flies is too difficult. I think the language may be a bit more difficult than in Animal Farm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 6th grader just finished Animal Farm in school and has read Lord of the Flies as well on her own. She definitely understood them just fine (they aren’t difficult books, in fact the opposite) but didn’t really enjoy them as she doesn’t like things that she seems scary.
My 4th grader is reading The Hobbit in school which I would argue is a harder book to read (from a reader’s perspective with all of the unusual words and names). He wants to read Lord of the Flies next on his own when he finishes the other book he’s reading and I think he will be fine with it.

For contrast, I recall reading The Hobbit in 6th grade for school and Animal Farm in 8th. Our South African au pair told us that AF is a senior year in HS book in South Africa which shows just how books are considered differently in different parts of the world.

Your 6th grader understood the plot of the story but not the main reason the book was written -as political satire and allegory for the Russian revolution. I don’t see the point of reading Animal Farm unless you understand the background.

[Anonymous]

Middle school

[Anonymous]

My kid did AF in 6th and LOTF in 8th. In both cases, the classroom setting made him work harder to understand not only themes and context, but that’s looking for things in context are important. AF in particular is kind of “how to understand an allegory 101”. A younger kid could certainly read it on his or her own but is unlikely to learn these lessons.

[Anonymous]

* that looking for themes and context are important

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 6th grader just finished Animal Farm in school and has read Lord of the Flies as well on her own. She definitely understood them just fine (they aren’t difficult books, in fact the opposite) but didn’t really enjoy them as she doesn’t like things that she seems scary.
My 4th grader is reading The Hobbit in school which I would argue is a harder book to read (from a reader’s perspective with all of the unusual words and names). He wants to read Lord of the Flies next on his own when he finishes the other book he’s reading and I think he will be fine with it.

For contrast, I recall reading The Hobbit in 6th grade for school and Animal Farm in 8th. Our South African au pair told us that AF is a senior year in HS book in South Africa which shows just how books are considered differently in different parts of the world.

Your 6th grader understood the plot of the story but not the main reason the book was written -as political satire and allegory for the Russian revolution. I don’t see the point of reading Animal Farm unless you understand the background.

Why do you say that? Of course she understood the reason the book was written and has studied that era in history. She wrote a short essay on the use of propaganda, scare tactics and ignorance in the book as parallel to their use in the rise of communism. She still considered it to be a bit scary and sad, but she’s the type of kid who thinks many things are “scary” simply because they don’t have happy endings.

[Anonymous]

I think younger kids can comprehend them, but I'd recommend them for 8th grade and up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our South African au pair told us that AF is a senior year in HS book in South Africa which shows just how books are considered differently in different parts of the world.

In my experience, South Africans are on average more politically aware than Americans. I assume this is because of their history of Apartheid. By senior year, any HS student has already studied different forms of government and the Russian revolution. They can understand Animal Farm on a different level from PP's 6th grade DD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 6th grader just finished Animal Farm in school and has read Lord of the Flies as well on her own. She definitely understood them just fine (they aren’t difficult books, in fact the opposite) but didn’t really enjoy them as she doesn’t like things that she seems scary.
My 4th grader is reading The Hobbit in school which I would argue is a harder book to read (from a reader’s perspective with all of the unusual words and names). He wants to read Lord of the Flies next on his own when he finishes the other book he’s reading and I think he will be fine with it.

For contrast, I recall reading The Hobbit in 6th grade for school and Animal Farm in 8th. Our South African au pair told us that AF is a senior year in HS book in South Africa which shows just how books are considered differently in different parts of the world.

Your 6th grader understood the plot of the story but not the main reason the book was written -as political satire and allegory for the Russian revolution. I don’t see the point of reading Animal Farm unless you understand the background.

Why do you say that? Of course she understood the reason the book was written and has studied that era in history. She wrote a short essay on the use of propaganda, scare tactics and ignorance in the book as parallel to their use in the rise of communism. She still considered it to be a bit scary and sad, but she’s the type of kid who thinks many things are “scary” simply because they don’t have happy endings.

No way am I buying your 6th grader studied the Russian revolution in depth including Trotsky in school.