Is Anybody There?
by Eve Bunting · Grades 3–5 · Mystery
Is Anybody There? by Eve Bunting is on US reading lists at grades 3–5. It appears on 2 lists: 2 book-award lists, across 2 states. Every citation below links to the primary source.
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Before you buy: Ages 8–10 · Grades 3–5 · 173 pages. The button opens an Amazon search: pick the edition with ISBN 9780606029056 if that is the one your class uses.
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Assigned across 2 curriculum lists · 2 states
Grade placement varies by school — the median assigned book spans 4 grade levels (83% span three or more, across 13,258 source-cited assignments).
This page shows where Is Anybody There? is assigned in US schools — curricula, states, grades, and the primary-source citations behind each placement. Not a summary or study guide.
Reading level at a glance
- Grade range
- Grades 3–5
- Age range
- Ages 8–10
- Pages
- 173
- Reading time
- about 3h 10m (est.)
- First published
- 1988
- Genre
- Mystery
- ISBN-13
- 9780606029056
Sources: grade range from the cited lists below, last checked 2026-09-24; pages and year from our catalog record (sources); reading time is an estimate at 250 words a minute.
Good fit for grade 3?
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About this book
Book facts and sources (2)
- On award reading lists
- South Carolina Children's Book Award (source: scasl.net)
- Nebraska Golden Sower Award (source: nlc.nebraska.gov)
- Catalog record
- First published 1988 · 173 pages (edition lengths vary) (source: how we source book data)
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See all books like Is Anybody There?→ — matched on theme + reading level.
Why it is assigned
This mystery title is typically read at grades 3–5. Written in the 1980s; pairs with curriculum units on mothers and sons and latchkey children; cited on 2 lists: 2 book-award lists.
Themes
mothers and sons · latchkey children · latchkey children in fiction · mothers and sons in fiction
Where this book is recommended
Nebraska Golden Sower Award
- recommended·3rd grade · Nebraskasource: Nebraska Library Association — Golden Sower Award past winners, 1992 winner (Chapter Book)
- recommended·4th grade · Nebraskasource: Nebraska Library Association — Golden Sower Award past winners, 1992 winner (Chapter Book)
- recommended·5th grade · Nebraskasource: Nebraska Library Association — Golden Sower Award past winners, 1992 winner (Chapter Book)
South Carolina Children's Book Award
- recommended·3rd grade · South Carolinasource: South Carolina Association of School Librarians (SCASL) — South Carolina Children's Book Award official past winners list (linked from scasl.net) — 1991 winner
- recommended·4th grade · South Carolinasource: South Carolina Association of School Librarians (SCASL) — South Carolina Children's Book Award official past winners list (linked from scasl.net) — 1991 winner
- recommended·5th grade · South Carolinasource: South Carolina Association of School Librarians (SCASL) — South Carolina Children's Book Award official past winners list (linked from scasl.net) — 1991 winner
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Common questions
- What grade level is Is Anybody There??
- Is Anybody There? is listed for grades 3–5. It appears on 2 state book-award lists across 2 states. Exact placement varies by school and district.
- How long does it take to read Is Anybody There??
- It takes about 3h 10m to read Is Anybody There? (173 pages) at an average adult reading pace of about 250 words per minute — roughly 190 minutes. Faster or slower readers will vary; the estimate is a planning guide for assigning the book.
- What curricula assign Is Anybody There??
- Is Anybody There? appears on reading lists for Nebraska Golden Sower Award, South Carolina Children's Book Award. Each assignment on this site links to its primary-source citation.
- Is Is Anybody There? banned in schools?
- Is Anybody There? does not appear in PEN America's Index of School Book Bans 2022-2024. No documented multi-district removals on record, but individual districts may challenge titles locally. See the banned books list by state.
- What themes does Is Anybody There? explore?
- Central themes in Is Anybody There? include mothers and sons, latchkey children, latchkey children in fiction, mothers and sons in fiction.
Why this book is on this list
How we classifyHide
Each dimension below is sourced from a public reference. The full framework is documented on the classification standard page.
- Lexile measure
- Not classified — this book has no published Lexile measure.
- Grade band
- Grades 3–5 — drawn from the state book-award lists citing this book.
- Curriculum alignment
- Cited in 2 curricula on this site (see “Where recommended” above for primary-source links).
- State-level evidence
- On state book-award lists in 2 states (see citations above).
- Removal / banning records
- No tracked removal or challenge records in cited sources.
- Seasonal / contextual tags
- Tagged for: book-club.