Snakebite

Name: Snakebite
Author: Jonathan Mary-Todd
ISBN: 9780761383277

Age Rating, Reading Level & Content Guide

by Jonathan Mary-Todd

After the Dust Settled

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

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.

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About This Book

After losing their parents, Malik, Beckley, Hector, Martin, and Emma rely on a survival guide to navigate the dangers of the northern plains. When Emma is taken by a mysterious group marked by the same snakebite that injured Hector, the friends must band together, sharpen their skills, and track their kidnappers through the wild. Trust and teamwork become their strongest weapons as they race against time to rescue Emma.

Themes

Survival Friendship Adventure Science & Nature

Quick Assessment

This is a Level 4-5 book with moderate content intensity. Content themes include physical danger, mild peril, survival. Written for readers ages 13+.

Why we rated Snakebite ME (Moderate)

Snakebite is written at a Level 4-5 reading level across 120 pages (approximately 15,507 words). 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.

Read aloud, Snakebite runs about 1.7 hours — long enough to span several bedtime sessions.

We rate Snakebite 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, physical peril — these are the dimensions parents should evaluate against their reader's tolerance.

Specific content flags noted by reviewers: Physical Danger, Mild Peril, Survival, Fear & Anxiety.

Thematically, Snakebite explores survival, friendship, adventure, and science & nature — 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.
✓ Reluctant readers who need fast-paced, hook-heavy stories to stay engaged.
✓ Kids drawn to stories about survival, friendship, adventure.
✓ Readers who fall hard for one book and want a long series to live in — there are 5 more books in the After the Dust Settled series.

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

Moderate

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

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