Walking on Air

Name: Walking on Air
Author: Kelly Easton
ISBN: 9781439131923

Age Rating, Reading Level & Content Guide

by Kelly Easton

Reading Level 6 ME · Moderate · Emotional Ages 13+ Matched Rich Discussion

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, ME, means moderate content, mostly emotional.

Find on Amazon Listen on Audible Find on Bookshop.org

We may earn a commission from these links. Bookshop.org supports independent bookstores with every purchase.

About This Book

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to walk on a tightrope high above the ground, with nothing but faith and hope to catch you if you fall? Imagine traveling from town to town during the Great Depression, performing in strange places and meeting all kinds of people. What secrets will you uncover when the tightrope starts to wobble beneath your feet?

Themes

Family Coming of Age HistoricalFaithAdventure

Quick Assessment

June, a girl who performs as a tightrope walker in her preacher father's traveling revival shows, lives through the Depression in 1931 America, where her family has no home, no money, and few friends. The story explores poverty, homelessness, religious devotion and doubt, buried family secrets, and a few brief, unsettling glimpses of carnival freak shows, along with real physical risk on the high wire. It is a reflective, character-driven novel that suits readers who can handle heavy themes and want a thoughtful look at faith and self-discovery.

Why we rated Walking on Air ME (Moderate)

Walking on Air is written at a Level 6 reading level across 213 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 Walking on Air 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.

Specific content flags noted by reviewers: Poverty & Hardship, Family Change.

Thematically, Walking on Air explores family, coming of age, historical, faith, and adventure — 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.
✓ Family book clubs, classroom read-alouds, and parents who want a strong conversation hook.
✓ Kids drawn to stories about family, coming of age, historical.

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.