Call me by my name

Name: Call me by my name
Author: John Ed Bradley
ISBN: 9781442497931

Age Rating, Reading Level & Content Guide

by John Ed Bradley

Reading Level 6-7 MS · Moderate · Social Ages 13+ Balanced Read

The text is written at a 6th grade reading level, the subject matter is intended for teens (ages 13+), and the content has moderate intensity with some emotionally heavy themes. Its HootRating code, MS, means moderate content, mostly social.

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About This Book

The sharp crack of a football echoes under the hot Louisiana sun, where two teammates from very different worlds catch passes and secrets. Their friendship grows stronger with every game, but the shadows of segregation and fear threaten to tear them apart. Can trust and courage break through walls built by history?

Themes

Race relationsAfrican AmericansFootballFriendshipHistory

Quick Assessment

Two high school football players in segregation-era Louisiana, one white and one Black, form a friendship that makes them a powerful team, but it is tested when one of them discovers a hatred he did not know he had. The story deals directly with racial prejudice, hostility, and the difficulty of change in a town slow to desegregate, so it works well for discussing history and empathy. Romantic feelings between teens appear but are not explicit.

Why we rated Call me by my name MS (Moderate)

Call me by my name is written at a Level 6-7 reading level across 265 pages. 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.

We rate Call me by my name as MS (Moderate, mostly social) because the content sits in the "Moderate" range — moderate conflict that may involve loss, scary scenes, or interpersonal stakes. The strongest signals come from emotional weight, social complexity, thematic difficulty — these are the dimensions parents should evaluate against their reader's tolerance.

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

Thematically, Call me by my name explores race relations, african americans, football, friendship, and history — these threads give the book room to mean different things to different readers.

Good fit for

✓ Children in the Ages 13+ range — the maturity and attention span match the story's pacing.
✓ Kids drawn to stories about race relations, african americans, football.

Maybe not for

! Readers who get easily upset by emotional or moderately dark scenes — the conflict here is real, not just background flavor.

For Parents

Content Intensity

MS · Moderate · Social

Emotional

Moderate

Physical

Mild

Social

Intense ←

Thematic

Moderate

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

Real stakes and emotional weight. May include sustained danger, loss, or bullying.

Data confidence: high

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