Seriously, this book is way too scary! I gave it to my 10-year-old to read and he was scared because of all the totalitarianism LOL! DO NOT READ!
UPDATE: My 10-year-old was not, in fact, scared by this book. He was provoked by its critique of totalitarianism, however, as evidenced by several subsequent late-night conversations about Orwell's political and humanistic beliefs, and the nature of freedom.
I thought my original review's sarcasm was easily detectable, that it would be clear that I meant to say something more along the lines of, "Every kid read this book because it is an accessible tuning fork by which they can learn about the dangers of totalitarianism." I figured the "LOL! DO NOT READ!" would put a fine enough point on that sarcasm. Reading the comments, I can see I misjudged. Hope this update clears things up.