River Readers

Melinda Sordino's first day of high school was nothing like she thought it would be. No one would talk to her or even look her way, including her ex-best friend, Rachel. Just before school started something happened that caused Melinda to become a social pariah but no one knew the truth. She just couldn't speak of the matter. Slowly, it swallowed her voice.

The animals have taken over Manor Farm. They have kicked farmer Jones off the land and decided to run it themselves. Everything starts out really well. They come up with the seven commandments of animalism and all work cooperatively. Then the pigs, who are in charge because they are the smartest, start changing things. The other animals are working harder for less and the pigs are working less for more. Soon their animal utopia turns into something else.

Let me preface this by saying that I am not that familiar with Ginsberg and the beat movement. Poetry has never been my thing. I find reading poetry difficult unless you read it aloud. Poetry seems to be a format that begs to be spoken aloud and can hide its depths if you just read the words on a page. So I read Howl aloud and felt moved it. I didn't get all the references, but I don't think I had to. I could hear the pain and the frustration and the desire to howl in the words.