What Beauty There Is
Cory Anderson
What Beauty There Is
Age Rating, Reading Level & Content Guide
A Novel
by Cory Anderson
The text is written at a 7th grade reading level, the subject matter is intended for teens (ages 13+), and the content is intense and may include graphic or distressing scenes.
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About This Book
Here’s a secret: Ava has lived seventeen years in silence, taught never to trust or love. Then she meets Jack, a boy fighting to keep his family together in a world that’s harsh and unforgiving. But this is only the beginning of a dangerous story where every choice could mean survival—or something much worse.
Themes
Quick Assessment
What Beauty There Is is a young adult novel exploring themes of family, survival, and difficult choices through the intertwined stories of Ava and Jack. The book contains intense and mature content, including family control, poverty, and crime, making it suitable for older teens. Parents should be aware of the emotional depth and challenging situations portrayed in this story.
Why we rated What Beauty There Is 12IE
What Beauty There Is is written at a Level 7 reading level across 368 pages. Strong independent readers around grade 8.0 can typically handle this book on their own; with parent or teacher support, What Beauty There Is works for readers up to grade 9.0.
We rate What Beauty There Is as 12IE ("Intense — Emotional") because the content sits in the "Intense" range — intense conflict including peril, frightening scenes, or emotionally heavy themes. The strongest signals come from emotional weight, physical peril, 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 intense intensity score.
Thematically, What Beauty There Is explores coming of age, family, thrillers & suspense, multigenerational, and young adult fiction — 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.
- ✓ Patient readers who enjoy slower, character-driven stories.
- ✓ Kids drawn to stories about coming of age, family, thrillers & suspense.
Maybe not for
- ! Sensitive readers who get overwhelmed by intense conflict or scary scenes.
- ! Children younger than 13+ — the content intensity is above what most younger kids can process comfortably.
- ! Reluctant readers who need a fast hook — the pacing here rewards patience.
For Parents
Content Intensity
12IE — Intense — EmotionalHeavy themes explored in depth. War, death, abuse addressed directly.
Was our "Intense" content intensity rating accurate for this book?
Reading Insights
Hook Factor
1/10A 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
- 9781250268105
- Pages
- 368
- Publisher
- Macmillan + ORM
- Published
- 2021
- Type
- Fiction