Your Favorite Authors
Lisa M. Bolt Simons
Your Favorite Authors
Age Rating, Reading Level & Content Guide
A Choose Your Path Basketball Book
by Lisa M. Bolt Simons
The text is written at a 6th 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 baseball was your escape from a tough home life? Imagine stepping up to the plate, making choices that shape your path to the championship. But when everything at home starts to fall apart, can you keep your spot on the team and maybe even bring your family back together?
Themes
Quick Assessment
This interactive middle-grade book follows Alec, a foster child and baseball player, as he navigates challenges both on the field and at home. Designed for ages 9-12, it encourages decision-making and resilience while addressing themes of family instability and forgiveness. Parents should note the story includes references to foster care and parental incarceration but presents these topics in an age-appropriate, hopeful manner.
Why we rated Your Favorite Authors 11ME
Your Favorite Authors is written at a Level 6 reading level across 240 pages. Strong independent readers around grade 7.0 can typically handle this book on their own; with parent or teacher support, Your Favorite Authors works for readers up to grade 8.0.
We rate Your Favorite Authors as 11ME ("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, social complexity — 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, Your Favorite Authors explores family, sports, coming of age, foster care, and forgiveness — 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.
- ✓ Readers ready to talk through themes after they finish — there's enough substance for a meaningful conversation.
- ✓ Kids drawn to stories about family, sports, coming of age.
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
11ME — 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
4/10Good conversation starter with themes worth exploring together.
Book DNA
Multi-dimensional content fingerprint
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Details
Book Length
- ISBN
- 9781515735823
- Pages
- 240
- Publisher
- Lake 7 Creative
- Published
- 2017
- Type
- Fiction