Football's Fallen Hero - The Jack Trice Story
Alan D. Stanley Steven L. Jones
Football's Fallen Hero - The Jack Trice Story
Age Rating, Reading Level & Content Guide
by Alan D. Stanley Steven L. Jones
The text is written at a 4th grade reading level, the subject matter is intended for middle graders (ages 9–12), and the content has moderate intensity with some emotionally heavy themes.
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About This Book
Discover the inspiring journey of Jack Trice, a trailblazing football player at Iowa State whose courage and determination left a lasting legacy after a tragic injury during a game in 1923. This story honors his strength and the impact he made both on and off the field.
Quick Assessment
This is a Level 4-5 book with moderate content intensity. Content themes include loss & grief, physical danger. Written for readers ages 9-12.
Why we rated Football's Fallen Hero - The Jack Trice Story 9ME
Football's Fallen Hero - The Jack Trice Story is written at a Level 4-5 reading level (approximately 11,659 words). Strong independent readers around grade 5.8 can typically handle this book on their own; with parent or teacher support, Football's Fallen Hero - The Jack Trice Story works for readers up to grade 6.8.
Read aloud, Football's Fallen Hero - The Jack Trice Story runs about 1.3 hours — long enough to span several bedtime sessions.
We rate Football's Fallen Hero - The Jack Trice Story as 9ME ("Moderate — Emotional") 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, physical peril — these are the dimensions parents should evaluate against their reader's tolerance.
Specific content flags noted by reviewers: Loss & Grief, Physical Danger.
Thematically, Football's Fallen Hero - The Jack Trice Story explores sports, historical, coming of age, social justice, and multicultural — 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.
Good fit for
- ✓ Children in the Ages 9-12 range — the maturity and attention span match the story's pacing.
- ✓ Readers who like a steady plot with enough momentum to keep pages turning.
- ✓ Readers ready to talk through themes after they finish — there's enough substance for a meaningful conversation.
- ✓ Kids drawn to stories about sports, historical, coming of age.
- ✓ Readers who fall hard for one book and want a long series to live in — there are 6 more books in the Cover-to-Cover Informational series.
- ✓ Curious kids who prefer real-world topics over made-up stories.
Maybe not for
- ! Readers who get easily upset by emotional or moderately dark scenes — the conflict here is real, not just background flavor.
- ! Children currently coping with grief — the themes may hit close to home.
For Parents
Content Intensity
9ME — Moderate — EmotionalReal stakes and emotional weight. May include sustained danger, loss, or bullying.
Content Flags
Was our "Moderate" content intensity rating accurate for this book?
Reading Insights
Hook Factor
6/10Engaging read with solid pacing and interesting themes.
Discussion Potential
6/10Good conversation starter with themes worth exploring together.
Book DNA
Multi-dimensional content fingerprint
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Details
Book Length
- ISBN
- 0789150778
- Publisher
- Perfection Learning (Sd)
- Published
- 2000-01-01
- Type
- Nonfiction
- Word Count
- 11,659
- Read-Aloud
- ~1h 18m