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Animal Farm
Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series. Please note that the eBook edition does NOT include access to the audio edition and digital book. Written for learners of English as a foreign language, each title includes carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises .
Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content .
The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning ( CEFR ). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.
Animal Farm, a Level 3 Reader, is A2 in the CEFR framework. The text is made up of sentences with up to three clauses, introducing first conditional, past continuous and present perfect simple for general experience. It is well supported by illustrations, which appear on most pages.
Animal Farm tells the story of a rebellion and how it goes wrong. The animals' lives on the farm are terrible - there is not enough food, the work is hard and animals are dying. One day, the animals kick out the farmer and start to run the farm. But things are not better for most of the animals. Life for them is the same as before.
Visit the Penguin Readers website
Register to access online resources including tests, worksheets and answer keys. Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock a digital book and audio edition (not available with the eBook).
Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content .
The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning ( CEFR ). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.
Animal Farm, a Level 3 Reader, is A2 in the CEFR framework. The text is made up of sentences with up to three clauses, introducing first conditional, past continuous and present perfect simple for general experience. It is well supported by illustrations, which appear on most pages.
Animal Farm tells the story of a rebellion and how it goes wrong. The animals' lives on the farm are terrible - there is not enough food, the work is hard and animals are dying. One day, the animals kick out the farmer and start to run the farm. But things are not better for most of the animals. Life for them is the same as before.
Visit the Penguin Readers website
Register to access online resources including tests, worksheets and answer keys. Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock a digital book and audio edition (not available with the eBook).
80 pages, Paperback
Published May 14, 2020
376 people are currently reading
1201 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 480 reviews
February 2, 2023
No review is needed for this. My only woe is people (or pigs) who still didnt understand the message of this whole novel.
But, as the Donkey, Benjamin, i won't comment any further. Some creatures may never understand the meanings of cautionary tales.
One thing is certain, we're not all equal.
But, as the Donkey, Benjamin, i won't comment any further. Some creatures may never understand the meanings of cautionary tales.
One thing is certain, we're not all equal.
January 28, 2022
Never read this book before. It was not required reading when I went to school.
Originally published in 1945 could just as well have been written in today. Nothing in the way the world works has changed one whit!
Pigs (very apt) take over the farm from the human farmer because the farmer is a drunken lout and they think they can run it better and the animals will all be equal and free. (Where have we heard that before?)
“Besides in those days they had been slaves and now they were free and that made all the difference…” (Pg.75-Chapter IX) The reader will know that they are as much slaves now as they were before.
“No creature called any other creature “Master”. All animals were equal.” (Pg.88-Chapter X) The reader will know this is not so and never will be.
They lost me the moment the Lead Pig (Napoleon) starts to deal with a human (Mr. Whymper) (Pg.44-Chapter VI)
The book is about greed (of course) and racism and the stupidity of men/animals who choose to believe every nonsensical thing they are told.
I know this is a ‘classic’ and it is ‘satire’ but I hated the book. I believe Orwell’s intent was to prove:
“Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. (Lord Acton, a British historian of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries).
Pigs or humans – all the same.
Maybe I just don't get satire.
Originally published in 1945 could just as well have been written in today. Nothing in the way the world works has changed one whit!
Pigs (very apt) take over the farm from the human farmer because the farmer is a drunken lout and they think they can run it better and the animals will all be equal and free. (Where have we heard that before?)
“Besides in those days they had been slaves and now they were free and that made all the difference…” (Pg.75-Chapter IX) The reader will know that they are as much slaves now as they were before.
“No creature called any other creature “Master”. All animals were equal.” (Pg.88-Chapter X) The reader will know this is not so and never will be.
They lost me the moment the Lead Pig (Napoleon) starts to deal with a human (Mr. Whymper) (Pg.44-Chapter VI)
The book is about greed (of course) and racism and the stupidity of men/animals who choose to believe every nonsensical thing they are told.
I know this is a ‘classic’ and it is ‘satire’ but I hated the book. I believe Orwell’s intent was to prove:
“Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. (Lord Acton, a British historian of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries).
Pigs or humans – all the same.
Maybe I just don't get satire.
August 23, 2023
I remember reading this in high school and it making a huge impact on me. Some of the ideas i thought the world might be about(in part)mixed with teenage natural issues with control was validated in this short read. I was glad that it added some humorous momments to help break up the seriousness of the message. Each character and the development of the story portrays a timeless classic.
If only we all used our powers for good. RIP snowball/ Boxer
If only we all used our powers for good. RIP snowball/ Boxer
January 4, 2025
It’s hard to believe this book was written before the 1979 Revolution! :)
August 30, 2022
This is a scary book, especially when you can recognise so much of the book in alot of curent goverments around the world.
February 1, 2026
ik had gehoord dat dit gewoon een lange analogie was, ma amai de graad van details en metier da hier verwerkt in zit is impressionant. Goated
June 26, 2021
Haven’t read such disturbing book in quite a while and made me thought a lot about contemporary politics.
March 27, 2021
simplemente odio a george orwell menos mal que está muerto porque menuda peste a p* desprende este señor en absolutamente todo lo que escribe
August 8, 2024
Es fühlt sich schwer an dieses Buch zu bewerten - unmöglich weniger als fünf Sterne herzugeben, obwohl ich Kritik durchaus verstehen und sehen kann.
Bis zum Ende wollte ich, dass es gut ausgeht - dass die Tiere nochmal den Mut fassen und Napoleon (was für ein Name schon) stürzen - aber es ist ja der Punkt des Buches, dass sie das nicht tun.
Bis zum Ende wollte ich, dass es gut ausgeht - dass die Tiere nochmal den Mut fassen und Napoleon (was für ein Name schon) stürzen - aber es ist ja der Punkt des Buches, dass sie das nicht tun.
August 23, 2023
3.5 zvaigznes; pofig, staigāšu četrrāpus
January 21, 2025
Burde jeg heller lese pensum? Absolutt. Men her er vi no. Likte den veldig godt! Har mer sansen for engelsken i denne enn Oz-boken jeg leste igår. Orwell skriver veldig morsomt og liksom handlingsdrivende. På en måte tar den jo opp litt samme tematikken som 1984 syns jeg, men på en satirisk måte. Anbefaler å lese den!
December 27, 2024
Interesting read. Needed a final classic to end my bol.com reading challenge and finished with this one. It was a good little read with interesting thoughts circulating my brain now.
October 10, 2025
▪︎كتاب روائي 51
▪︎كتاب رقمي 36
▪︎اللغة الإنجليزية 1
George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a story of dreams betrayed.
What begins as a revolution for freedom and equality soon turns into another form of tyranny.
At first, the animals believe in justice: “all animals are equal .”
But little by little, power corrupts. Pigs grow fat while others starve. Boxer, the hardest worker, is sacrificed. And in the end, the promise of equality is twisted into its cruel opposite:
👉 “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
It’s a chilling reminder that revolutions can become the very thing they fought against, and that freedom without awareness is always at risk.
⭐ A timeless fable, short in length but immense in truth.
▪︎كتاب رقمي 36
▪︎اللغة الإنجليزية 1
George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a story of dreams betrayed.
What begins as a revolution for freedom and equality soon turns into another form of tyranny.
At first, the animals believe in justice: “all animals are equal .”
But little by little, power corrupts. Pigs grow fat while others starve. Boxer, the hardest worker, is sacrificed. And in the end, the promise of equality is twisted into its cruel opposite:
👉 “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
It’s a chilling reminder that revolutions can become the very thing they fought against, and that freedom without awareness is always at risk.
⭐ A timeless fable, short in length but immense in truth.
August 1, 2024
Honestly better than I expected when I started reading the book. George Orwell did a great job showing how corruption and manipulation ends up everywhere. There will always be someone thirsty for power making the rest the victims, brainwashed in forgetting everything they knew before, as we could see when every initial rule slowly changed for the benefit of those animals believed "superior". The ending was quite clever comparing the humans to pigs
"No questions, now, what happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again:but already it was impossible to say which was which"
"No questions, now, what happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again:but already it was impossible to say which was which"
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 27, 2025
Having read 1984 many years ago, I didnt expect Animal Farm to be as humorous as it is. The beginning section is quite funny, and the whole book is very entertaining to read. The darker part, is also not too brutal. All in all a good read.
June 29, 2021
Ese final de 10
May 8, 2022
so I think we can agree that communism is Bad
July 21, 2024
George Orwell had a particular gift for noticing the more wicked ways of man. Reading this largely subsequent to 1984, his foresight or depth of understanding in the difference between ideals and reality, naivety and malice, pure souls and warped ones, is nothing short of awe.
The accuracy with which he was able to predict facist-communist-even traces of capitalist and socialist regimes and societies leaves me stunned. Reading autobiographies of life under such systems, tragic and recent, and then reading works written nearly a century prior to such events but with identical phenomenon is incredible. As an example of this, Orwell wrote Animal Farm before DPRK was founded, and 70 years later, it's being run identical to his writings.
Looking forward to more of his reads, Orwell is fast reaching the reality of sharing the status of my favourite author with Hesse.
The accuracy with which he was able to predict facist-communist-even traces of capitalist and socialist regimes and societies leaves me stunned. Reading autobiographies of life under such systems, tragic and recent, and then reading works written nearly a century prior to such events but with identical phenomenon is incredible. As an example of this, Orwell wrote Animal Farm before DPRK was founded, and 70 years later, it's being run identical to his writings.
Looking forward to more of his reads, Orwell is fast reaching the reality of sharing the status of my favourite author with Hesse.
July 7, 2025
Orwell is a master of innuendo packed fiction. I read this in grade 9 English class but it didn’t really interest me at the time. I picked it back up 10 years later and it was totally different for me - it’s impossible not to read Animal Farm without the Russian Revolution in mind…”All animals are equal but some are more equal with others.” The oppressive class is destroyed and then replaced with a new oppressive class. An absolute masterpiece innuendo.
December 31, 2025
4.25 🌟
October 21, 2024
"Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again: but already it was impossible to say which was which."
November 15, 2024
Ik weet niet goed wat ik aan dit boek kan toevoegen als review maar het is wel een heel goed boek en hedendaags nog steeds super relevant.
March 11, 2025
slander tout le monde sait que les chiens c'est des good boys en vrai (la meuf qui a pas compris genre)
August 27, 2024
Animal Farm by George Orwell is a clever approach to explain communism.
The story is about farm animals who take over their farm, hoping to create a fair and equal society. But over time, the pigs begin to corrupt and manipulate the system to gain more power and deceive the other animals.
It shows that even a great idea can fail if it falls in the wrong hands. A short and easy read. This book feels like a combination of non-fiction and fiction. I give it a 5 star.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
The story is about farm animals who take over their farm, hoping to create a fair and equal society. But over time, the pigs begin to corrupt and manipulate the system to gain more power and deceive the other animals.
It shows that even a great idea can fail if it falls in the wrong hands. A short and easy read. This book feels like a combination of non-fiction and fiction. I give it a 5 star.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
November 13, 2023
I absolutely adore the way Orwell makes such clear references to his and our political situations without making it that's obvious as to negate the effect it has on the reader. Despite being a very short book it did break my heart at one point and I will recommend it to anyone who is interested in reading it.
January 10, 2022
It's a great book.
Simple and easy to read but with a very powerful message.
Thanks for the recommendation @AliceDelgado
Simple and easy to read but with a very powerful message.
Thanks for the recommendation @AliceDelgado
May 30, 2023
A contemporary satire that depicts the reality of many countries' political systems today.
September 6, 2024
Das Buch wurde schon so oft rezensiert, da kann man eigentlich nichts neues mehr zu sagen, aber ich hätte echt nicht gedacht, dass ich am Ende so heulen muss.
May 31, 2025
No review needed.
January 10, 2026
I promised myself I would pick up a book, so maybe reviving this goodreads account will help me break my awful habit of endless scrolling. Thanks to that little push, I got the idea to try short books or novellas and my choice, George Orwell’s Animal Farm. It made me a bit uneasy.
I went in with almost no expectations, just a three-word summary: "animals will rebel." And rebel they did! They booted off the cruel Mr. Jones. But the story left me thinking: did their lives really improve by ruling themselves? Even with such great ideals, when leaders get corrupted, does society inevitably fall into the same trap?
Reading this made me realize that no change is truly lasting without safeguards to prevent history from repeating itself. People who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. It’s so easy to slip back into the same patterns because we forget what it was like, and when leaders are prone to corruption and society blindly trusts new changes, exploitation continues. It’s a vicious cycle, and seeing it unfold, even through a story, feels uncomfortably close to reality. Heavy for a first read, but it’s done and off my list!
I went in with almost no expectations, just a three-word summary: "animals will rebel." And rebel they did! They booted off the cruel Mr. Jones. But the story left me thinking: did their lives really improve by ruling themselves? Even with such great ideals, when leaders get corrupted, does society inevitably fall into the same trap?
Reading this made me realize that no change is truly lasting without safeguards to prevent history from repeating itself. People who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. It’s so easy to slip back into the same patterns because we forget what it was like, and when leaders are prone to corruption and society blindly trusts new changes, exploitation continues. It’s a vicious cycle, and seeing it unfold, even through a story, feels uncomfortably close to reality. Heavy for a first read, but it’s done and off my list!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 480 reviews