Baseball genius

Name: Baseball genius
Author: Tim Green
ISBN: 9781481468640

Age Rating, Reading Level & Content Guide

by Tim Green

Reading Level 4-5 LE · Mild · Emotional Ages 9-12 Balanced Read

The text is written at a 4th grade reading level, the subject matter is intended for middle graders (ages 9–12), and the content is mild with minimal sensitive material. Its HootRating code, LE, means mild content, mostly emotional.

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About This Book

Here's a secret: this kid can predict baseball pitches before they happen. But when he's caught stealing baseballs from his favorite New York Yankees player, things take an unexpected turn. Helping the star player bounce back is just the start of an incredible game.

Themes

Friendship Sports Coming of Age Adventure

Quick Assessment

This middle-grade novel follows a young boy with an unusual talent for forecasting baseball pitches who gets into trouble for stealing baseballs. The story explores themes of responsibility, perseverance, and teamwork as the boy helps a struggling professional player. Suitable for ages 9-12, it contains mild themes of theft but handles them with positive resolution.

Why we rated Baseball genius LE (Mild)

Baseball genius is written at a Level 4-5 reading level across 344 pages. Reading-wise, most kids in grade 6 and up can manage Baseball genius on their own; younger readers can enjoy it with a parent or teacher reading along.

We rate Baseball genius as LE (Mild, mostly emotional) because the content sits in the "Mild" range — mild conflict — the kind a child encounters in normal play and sibling life. Across our four dimensions (emotional, physical, social, thematic) the book reads as evenly mild; no single dimension stands out as a concern.

No specific content flags were raised by community reviewers, which is consistent with the mild intensity score.

Thematically, Baseball genius explores friendship, sports, coming of age, and adventure — these threads give the book room to mean different things to different readers.

Good fit for

✓ Children in the Ages 9-12 range — the maturity and attention span match the story's pacing.
✓ Kids drawn to stories about friendship, sports, coming of age.

Maybe not for

! Readers looking for something heavier — this is a gentle, low-stakes story by design.

For Parents

Content Intensity

LE · Mild · Emotional

Emotional

Mild ←

Physical

Gentle

Social

Gentle

Thematic

Gentle

Reading the HootRating code: the first letter is the content intensity (C = Gentle · L = Mild · M = Moderate · I = Intense · V = Very Intense); the second, when there is one, is the kind of content that drives it (E = Emotional · P = Physical · S = Social · T = Thematic). Reading level and age range are rated separately. How we rate

Light conflict or tension. Mild peril resolved quickly.

Data confidence: high

Was our "Mild" content intensity rating accurate for this book?