# Purple Hibiscus

**Author:** Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
**Lexile:** 920L
**Grade range:** Grades 10–12
**Age range:** 14–18
**First published:** 2003
**Page count:** 336
**Genre:** Literary Fiction
**ISBN-13:** `9781616202415`
**ISBN-10:** `1616202416`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/purple-hibiscus
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

Fifteen-year-old Kambili grows up in postcolonial Nigeria under a wealthy, devoutly Catholic father whose public generosity masks private tyranny. When she and her brother stay with their freethinking aunt, Kambili glimpses a different kind of family and begins to find her own voice. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's debut is increasingly assigned in grades 10-12 and world-literature courses for its coming-of-age and postcolonial themes.

## Themes

- family
- religion
- coming of age
- colonialism
- domestic violence

## Content notes

- domestic violence
- religious extremism

## Where this book is assigned

### AP English Literature & Composition

- **recommended** · 11th grade — [source: AP Lit representative text](https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-english-literature-and-composition)
- **recommended** · 12th grade — [source: AP Lit representative text](https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-english-literature-and-composition)

### IB Diploma Programme — English A: Literature

- **recommended** · 11th grade — [source: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is on the IB Diploma Programme English A: Literature Prescribed Reading List (author-eligible; schools select from the full PRL). Verified via independent author-roster cross-reference, 2026-09-04.](https://www.ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/)
- **recommended** · 12th grade — [source: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is on the IB Diploma Programme English A: Literature Prescribed Reading List (author-eligible; schools select from the full PRL). Verified via independent author-roster cross-reference, 2026-09-04.](https://www.ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/)

### Summer reading lists

- **recommended** · 10th grade · Massachusetts — [source: Middleborough High School (MA) — Summer Reading 2025, choose one per incoming grade](https://www.midlib.org/sites/midlib.org/files/images/MHS%20Summer%20Reading%202025.pdf)

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