The Door of No Return
by Kwame Alexander · Grades 6–8
The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander is on US reading lists at grades 6–8. It appears on 1 list: the Georgia Children's Book Award, across 1 state. Every citation below links to the primary source.
Before you buy: Grades 6–8 · 382 pages. The button opens the paperback edition (ISBN 9780316442060). If the class uses a set edition or translation, match its ISBN first.
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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).
This page shows where The Door of No Return 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 6–8
- Pages
- 382
- Reading time
- about 7 hours (est.)
- First published
- 2022
- ISBN-13
- 9780316442060
Sources: grade range from the cited lists below, last checked 2026-06-09; pages and year from our catalog record (sources); reading time is an estimate at 250 words a minute.
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New to these terms? Reading levels by grade
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Where this book is recommended
Georgia Children's Book Award
- recommended·6th grade · Georgiasource: Georgia Children's Book Award 2025 Nominees (Grades 6-8), University of Georgia Libraries
- recommended·7th grade · Georgiasource: Georgia Children's Book Award 2025 Nominees (Grades 6-8), University of Georgia Libraries
- recommended·8th grade · Georgiasource: Georgia Children's Book Award 2025 Nominees (Grades 6-8), University of Georgia Libraries
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Common questions
- What grade level is The Door of No Return?
- The Door of No Return is listed for grades 6–8. It appears on 1 state book-award list across 1 state. Exact placement varies by school and district.
- How long does it take to read The Door of No Return?
- It takes about 7 hours to read The Door of No Return (382 pages) at an average adult reading pace of about 250 words per minute — roughly 420 minutes. Faster or slower readers will vary; the estimate is a planning guide for assigning the book.
- What curricula assign The Door of No Return?
- The Door of No Return appears on reading lists for Georgia Children's Book Award. Each assignment on this site links to its primary-source citation.
- Is The Door of No Return banned in schools?
- The Door of No Return 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.
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 6–8 — drawn from the state book-award lists citing this book.
- Curriculum alignment
- Cited in 1 curriculum on this site (see “Where recommended” above for primary-source links).
- State-level evidence
- On state book-award lists in 1 state (see citations above).
- Removal / banning records
- No tracked removal or challenge records in cited sources.
- Seasonal / contextual tags
- Tagged for: book-club.