Gone
Michael Grant
Gone
Age Rating, Reading Level & Content Guide
by Michael Grant
The text is written at a 8th 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
What if one day, all the adults suddenly vanished and a mysterious wall trapped everyone inside your town? Imagine kids discovering strange powers and facing tough choices about survival and power. Can Sam and Astrid unravel the secrets before the clock runs out and they disappear too?
Themes
Quick Assessment
Gone is a middle-grade supernatural fiction novel about a town where all adults vanish, leaving children to fend for themselves inside a mysterious barrier. The story explores themes of survival, power struggles, and moral challenges as kids develop strange abilities and face dangerous situations. Suitable for ages 9-12, it contains moderate tension and some scenes of conflict and bullying.
Why we rated Gone 12ME
Gone is written at a Level 8 reading level across 576 pages. Strong independent readers around grade 9.0 can typically handle this book on their own; with parent or teacher support, Gone works for readers up to grade 10.0.
We rate Gone as 12ME ("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, 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, Gone explores survival, supernatural, good and evil, friendship, 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.
- ✓ Patient readers who enjoy slower, character-driven stories.
- ✓ Kids drawn to stories about survival, supernatural, good and evil.
Maybe not for
- ! Readers who get easily upset by emotional or moderately dark scenes — the conflict here is real, not just background flavor.
- ! Reluctant readers who need a fast hook — the pacing here rewards patience.
For Parents
Content Intensity
12ME — Moderate — EmotionalReal stakes and emotional weight. May include sustained danger, loss, or bullying.
Was our "Moderate" content intensity rating accurate for this book?
Reading Insights
Hook Factor
2/10A steady, thoughtful read that rewards patient readers.
Discussion Potential
3/10A lighter read — great for independent enjoyment.
Book DNA
Multi-dimensional content fingerprint
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Details
Book Length
- ISBN
- 9781405292320
- Pages
- 576
- Publisher
- Egmont Books, Limited
- Published
- 2018
- Type
- Fiction