
What If It's Us
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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).
What If It's Us by Becky Albertalli 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 What If It's Us 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
- 443
- Reading time
- about 8h 5m (est.)
- First published
- 2018
- Genre
- Realistic Fiction
- ISBN-13
- 9780062868671
New to these terms? Reading levels by grade
More formats & details
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See all books like What If It's Us→ — 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 gays and fate and fatalism; cited across 1 curriculum framework.
Themes
gays · fate and fatalism · dating (social customs) · dating (social customs), fiction
Where this book is assigned
Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Book Award
- recommended·9th grade · Marylandsource: Maryland Association of School Librarians — Black-Eyed Susan Book Award, 2021 winner (High School)
- recommended·10th grade · Marylandsource: Maryland Association of School Librarians — Black-Eyed Susan Book Award, 2021 winner (High School)
- recommended·11th grade · Marylandsource: Maryland Association of School Librarians — Black-Eyed Susan Book Award, 2021 winner (High School)
- recommended·12th grade · Marylandsource: Maryland Association of School Librarians — Black-Eyed Susan Book Award, 2021 winner (High School)
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Common questions
- What grade level is What If It's Us?
- What If It's Us 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 What If It's Us?
- It takes about 8h 5m to read What If It's Us (443 pages) at an average adult reading pace of about 250 words per minute — roughly 485 minutes. Faster or slower readers will vary; the estimate is a planning guide for assigning the book.
- What curricula assign What If It's Us?
- What If It's Us appears on reading lists for Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Book Award. Each assignment on this site links to its primary-source citation.
- Is What If It's Us banned in schools?
- What If It's Us 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 What If It's Us explore?
- Central themes in What If It's Us include gays, fate and fatalism, dating (social customs), dating (social customs), fiction. 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 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 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.