# A Separate Peace

**Author:** John Knowles
**Lexile:** 1110L
**Grade range:** Grades 9–11
**Age range:** 14–17
**First published:** 1959
**Page count:** 204
**Genre:** Literary Fiction
**ISBN-13:** `9780743253970`
**ISBN-10:** `0743253973`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/a-separate-peace
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

At a New Hampshire boarding school during World War II, Gene Forrester narrates his complicated friendship with the athletic, free-spirited Phineas. A common 9th-10th grade American Literature text paired with WWII history units.

## Themes

- friendship and rivalry
- coming of age in wartime
- guilt and memory
- envy
- loss of innocence

## Content notes

- accidental death
- war anxiety

Common Sense Media age recommendation: 12+

## Where this book is assigned

### Common Core State Standards (ELA)

- **recommended** · 10th grade — [source: CCSS ELA Appendix B, grades 9-10 exemplar](https://achievethecore.org/page/2699)
- **recommended** · 10th grade · New Hampshire — [source: NH CCR Standards grade 10 aligned text (NH boarding-school setting)](https://www.education.nh.gov/)

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