See no color

Name: See no color
Author: Shannon Gibney
ISBN: 9781467776820

Age Rating, Reading Level & Content Guide

by Shannon Gibney

Reading Level 4-5 ME · Moderate · Emotional Ages 13+ Matched

The text is written at a 4th 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, ME, means moderate content, mostly emotional.

Find on Amazon Listen on Audible

We may earn a commission from these links.

About This Book

The crack of the baseball hitting the glove echoes through the sunny field as Alex runs the bases, heart pounding with every step. She's always been the star player, but now everything feels different—new faces, hidden letters, and big questions about who she really is. Can she find her place both on the team and in her own story?

Themes

Family Sports Identity & Self-Discovery Adoption & Foster Care Multicultural Coming of Age

Quick Assessment

Sixteen-year-old Alex, a talented adopted baseball player raised by a white family in Madison, Wisconsin, begins questioning her identity when she discovers letters from her biological father that her parents kept hidden. The novel handles transracial adoption candidly, including racial teasing, family tension, loss, and a changing body that affects her game, with a light romantic thread and no graphic content. It suits mature teen readers who can handle honest conversations about race, belonging, and family secrets.

Why we rated See no color ME (Moderate)

See no color is written at a Level 4-5 reading level across 186 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 See no color as ME (Moderate, mostly 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, 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, See no color explores family, sports, identity & self-discovery, adoption & foster care, 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 13+ range — the maturity and attention span match the story's pacing.
✓ Readers ready to talk through themes after they finish — there's enough substance for a meaningful conversation.
✓ Kids drawn to stories about family, sports, identity & self-discovery.

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

ME · Moderate · Emotional

Emotional

Moderate ←

Physical

Mild

Social

Moderate

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?