Cover of Room

Room

by Emma Donoghue

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Assigned across 1 curriculum list · 1 state

Grade placement varies by school — the median assigned book spans 4 grade levels (83% span three or more, across 13,258 source-cited assignments).

On reading-award lists:Kentucky Bluegrass Award

Room by Emma Donoghue is assigned in US schools at grades 9–12. It appears across 1 curriculum reference and 1 state, sourced from state DOE pages and AP/IB/Common Core syllabi. Every citation below links to the primary source.

This page shows where Room is assigned in US schools — curricula, states, grades, and the primary-source citations behind each placement. Not a summary or study guide.

Grade range
Grades 9–12
Age range
Ages 14–17
Pages
370
Reading time
about 6h 45m (est.)
First published
2010
Genre
Realistic Fiction
ISBN-13
9780316196949

New to these terms? Reading levels by grade

More formats & details

Other formats on Amazon: Kindle · Audiobook

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About this book

Room is a 2010 novel by Irish-Canadian author Emma Donoghue. The story is told from the perspective of a five-year-old boy, Jack, who is being held captive in a small room along with his mother. Donoghue conceived the story after hearing about five-year-old Felix in the Fritzl case. The novel was longlisted for the 2011 Orange Prize and won the 2011 Commonwealth Writers' Prize regional prize (Caribbean and Canada). It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2010, and was shortlisted for the 2010 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the 2010 Governor General's Awards.

Similar grade-level books

See all books like Room→ — matched on theme + reading level.

Why widely assigned

This Realistic Fiction title, typically at grades 9–12. Written in the 2010s; pairs with curriculum units on family life and sexual assault; cited across 1 curriculum framework.

Themes

family life · sexual assault · rape · new york times bestseller

Where this book is assigned

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Common questions

What grade level is Room?
Room is most commonly assigned in US schools in grades 9–12. Specific grade placement varies by curriculum — AP Literature and IB English Literature typically use it in grades 11-12.
How long does it take to read Room?
It takes about 6h 45m to read Room (370 pages) at an average adult reading pace of about 250 words per minute — roughly 405 minutes. Faster or slower readers will vary; the estimate is a planning guide for assigning the book.
What curricula assign Room?
Room appears on reading lists for Kentucky Bluegrass Award. Each assignment on this site links to its primary-source citation.
Is Room banned in schools?
Room 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.
What themes does Room explore?
Central themes in Room include family life, sexual assault, rape, new york times bestseller. These themes match how the book is discussed in most curriculum guides and AP Literature prompts.

Why this book is on this list

How we classify

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 9–12 — drawn from state ELA frameworks and AP/IB syllabi citing this book.
Curriculum alignment
Cited in 1 curriculum on this site (see “Where assigned” above for primary-source links).
State-level evidence
Cited in 1 state ELA framework or DOE list (see citations above).
Removal / banning records
No tracked removal or challenge records in cited sources.
Seasonal / contextual tags
Tagged for: book-club.

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