A list of things that didn't kill me

A list of things that didn't kill me is written at a Level 5-6 reading level across 421 pages (approximately 130,047 words). Upper Grades (Ages 13+) is the typical interest range for this book — readers in that age band have the maturity and attention span suited to the story, separate from whether they can decode the words.

Read aloud, A list of things that didn't kill me runs about 14.5 hours — long enough to span several bedtime sessions.

We rate A list of things that didn't kill me as IE (Intense, mostly emotional) because the content sits in the "Intense" range — intense conflict including peril, frightening scenes, or emotionally heavy themes. The strongest signals come from emotional weight, physical peril, social complexity — these are the dimensions parents should evaluate against their reader's tolerance.

Specific content flags noted by reviewers: Child Abuse, Substance Use, Illness & Injury, Emotional: Loss & Grief, Emotional: Family Change, Sexual Content, Strong Language.

Thematically, A list of things that didn't kill me explores family, drug addiction, family violence, coming of age, and survival — these threads give the book room to mean different things to different readers. Each of these themes is concrete enough to seed a real conversation, not just a moral lesson.