The Animals' Rebellion

Bingham, Clifton, 1859-1913Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0

Word count: 14K words
Chapters: 2

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Animals' Rebellion by Clifton BinghamAuthor: Bingham, Clifton, 1859-1913,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Nov 15, 2005

Editor's review

This is a children's verse story built around an animal rebellion, a work of young readers' literature. It moves forward in rhymed short lines with a strong rhythm, well suited to reading aloud and role assignment. Its appeal lies mainly in the anthropomorphic animal ensemble and the scenes of conflict; it is short, the plot moves directly, and it is friendly to young readers just beginning to meet English verse. One thing to note: the book presents collective animal action as a confrontational farce, so adults reading along can use it to discuss the relationship between rules, demands, and ways of expressing them, without over-interpreting the plot as a real-world allegory. As a public-domain e-book, it works better as light material for early English rhythm practice and parent-child reading than as a literary classic carrying complex themes; if you want deep narrative or finely detailed illustrations, this should not be your main choice.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Young readers with some English phonics basics who are beginning to encounter verse
Parents and early-years teachers who need English read-aloud material
Relaxed readers who enjoy anthropomorphic animal stories
Classrooms looking for short English scripts or role-based reading material

Not a good fit for

Teen readers hoping for complex plots and deep themes
Complete beginners with no foundation in reading English texts
Very young readers expecting a picture-rich picture-book experience

Reading tips

First read it aloud once to feel the rhymes, then go paragraph by paragraph to confirm unfamiliar animal names and verbs.
When reading together, assign roles and use tone to distinguish each animal's position.
After reading, have the child retell the cause and outcome of the conflict in their own words, practicing narrative expression.
Rhyming word pairs can be pulled out onto small cards as practice material for English phonological awareness.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What age is this book suitable for?

It is better suited to primary-school readers who already have basic English phonics skills; the specific age varies with language background. For younger children, an adult should read aloud and help explain word meanings; for independent reading, first check whether the child can read the verse sentences smoothly.

Does the story have a didactic tone?

The work centers on the farcical plot of an animal rebellion, and it is more entertaining than preachy. Whether readers draw out a discussion of rules and demands depends on how adults guide the shared reading; the book itself does not offer a clear conclusion.

Does the public-domain e-book include illustrations?

Whether a public-domain e-book keeps the original illustrations varies by edition; check the image content in the file before reading. If a visual reading experience is the main goal, choose an edition explicitly marked as containing illustrations, or pair it with a picture book.

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About the author

Bingham, Clifton, 1859-1913 Author · English · 1859–1913

Clifton Bingham (1859–1913) was a British author of children's books and a songwriter. Public information about him is limited, and few details of his life survive, yet his work shows that he wrote for young readers over many years, chiefly picture stories and nursery rhymes. His language is simple and his rhythms are lively, making the pieces easy to read aloud and to sing. His picture stories often use anthropomorphic animals and light-hearted plots to draw children in, conveying plain lessons through entertainment, while his rhymes rely on rhythm and repetition and suit both shared family reading and children's recitation. His representative work, The Animals' Rebellion, unfolds its imagination around an animal uprising and shows his gift for fable-like narrative that instructs while it entertains. Bingham's writing holds a place in the British children's literature and popular song of his day, and has had some influence on later writing for children and on the composing of nursery rhymes.