Lit2Go

Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level 8

Readability levels for passages on Lit2Go are reported as Flesch-Kincaid grade levels which are roughly equivalent to U.S. grade levels.

Books

8.0

Around the World in 80 Days

by Jules Verne

Around the World in 80 Days (French: Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is a classic adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in 1873. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employed French valet Passepartout attempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days on a £20,000 wager set by his friends at the Reform Club.

In the Wilds of Florida

by W.H.G. Kingston

In the Wilds of Florida is a tale of an Irish schoolboy who leaves school and his struggling family in Ireland to come to America. He experiences a Florida where fighting still erupts between Cherokee and Seminole Indians, where white people are under threat of Indian attack, and the landscape is mostly swamp or plains of dense brush.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

by Charles Dickens

The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Dickens's final novel was left unfinished before his death in 1871. Edwin Drood’s uncle, John Jasper, a choirmaster, is in love with his pupil and Drood’s fiancee Rosa Bud. She has also caught the eye of high-spirited and ill-tempered Neville Landless (who came from Ceylon with his twin sister Helena). When Drood is murdered, the killer must be found...that is if Drood is really dead.

8.1

Oliver Twist

by Charles Dickens

Oliver Twist is Charles Dickens' second novel. It is about a boy named Oliver Twist, who escapes from a workhouse and meets a gang of pickpockets in London. The novel is one of Dickens's most well-known works, and has been the subject of numerous film and television adaptations.

8.2

Great Expectations

by Charles Dickens

Great Expectations follows Pip's life expectations as he attempts to fit in with upper class society, while pining for the affection of Estella.

Main Street

by Sinclair Lewis

Main Street is a satirical novel about small-town life, and is notable for the presence of a strong female protagonist.

8.5

The Time Machine

by H.G. Wells

The Time Machine is a book by H. G. Wells, first published in 1895

The book’s protagonist is an amateur inventor or scientist living in London identified simply as The Time Traveller. Having demonstrated to friends using a miniature model that time is a fourth dimension, and that a suitable apparatus can move back and forth in this fourth dimension, he completes the building of a larger machine capable of carrying himself. He then immediately sets off on a journey into the future.

The Time Traveller details the experience of time travel and the evolution of his surroundings as he moves through time. While travelling through time, his machine allows him to observe the changes of the outside world in fast motion. He observes the sun and moon traversing the sky and the changes to the buildings and landscape around him as he travels through time. His machine produces a sense of disorientation to its occupant, and a blurring or faintness of the surroundings outside the machine.

8.6

Clotel; or, The President's Daughter

by William Wells Brown

Clotel; or, The President's Daughter is a novel by William Wells Brown (1815 – 1884), a fugitive from slavery and abolitionist and was published in London, England in December 1853. It gained notoriety amid the unconfirmed rumors regarding Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings. Brown was still considered someone else's legal property within the borders of the United States at the time of its publication. It is considered to be the first novel written by an African American. The book follows the experiences of three generations of women during slavery.

Brown used the injustices of slavery to demonstrate the destructive effects it had on the African American family, most significantly the so–called tragic mulatto. Brown had escaped from slavery in Kentucky while still in his youth, and became active on the anti–slavery circuit.

8.7

Ethan Frome

by Edith Wharton

Ethan Frome is a tragic novel about the unrequited love between Ethan Frome and his wife's cousin, Mattie Silver.

This novel has elements in common with gothic fiction, realism, modernism, romance, and tragedy.

8.8

Jane Eyre

by Charlotte Brontë

Jane Eyre is a classic novel by Charlotte Brontë which was published in 1847. Jane Eyre, an orphan, must find her own way in the world while learning about friendship, family, love, trust, societal roles--and how to deal with dark secrets.

The Jungle

by Upton Sinclair

The Jungle is a novel by American author and socialist Upton Sinclair. It describes the life of a family of Lithuanian immigrants working in Chicago’s Union Stock Yards at the beginning of the 20th century. The novel depicts in harsh tones the poverty, complete absence of social security, scandalous living and working conditions, and generally utter hopelessness prevalent among the have-nots, which is contrasted with the deeply-rooted corruption on the part of the haves. The sad state of turn-of-the-century labor is placed front and center for the American public to see suggesting that something needed to be changed to get rid of American “wage slavery”. The novel is also an important example of the “muckraking” tradition begun by journalists such as Jacob Riis. Sinclair wanted to show how the mainstream parties of American politics, already being tied into the industrial-capitalist machine, offered little means for progressive change. As such the book is deeply supportive of values and criticisms held by Communism, a movement still in its infancy at the time.

Passages

8.0

“The Boy Who Cried ‘Wolf’”

Aesop's Fables

by Aesop

A shepherd boy falsely cries “wolf” twice just to get excitement from the villiage people, but when a real wolf comes and he cries “wolf” again, no one comes to his rescue. moral: no one believes a liar even when he tells the truth.

8.1

“The Three Robes”

The Crimson Fairy Book

by Andrew Lang

A story about a king who remarries after his wife’s death. His new queen kills him and intends to kill his children, but they escape. When the prince of Greece comes for the king’s daughter, the new queen sends her daughter who is expected to weave three robes for the prince. The king’s daughter makes the robes for the mistaken princess, but the prince finds her and they marry instead.

My Lord Bag of Rice

Japanese Fairy Tales

by Yei Theodora Ozaki

A Japanese warrior defends the Dragon King by killing his enemy, the monster centipede. In gratitude the Dragon King gives the warrior several presents, including a bag of rice that never runs out, and he comes to be known as My Lord Bag of Rice.

8.2

The Happy Hunter and the Skillful Fisher

Japanese Fairy Tales

by Yei Theodora Ozaki

The brothers The Happy Hunter and The Skillful Fisherman change occupational places one day. The Hunter does not know how to fish, and loses his brother’s hook. The Skillful Fisherman is very angry and demands his hook back. The Hunter searches and searches to no avail, until an old man appears and tells him to travel to the Sea King’s realm to find the hook. He does so, and finds the hook and makes many new friends. He stays in the Sea King’s realm for three years, and then he returns to land. He gives the hook to his brother, and the brother is angry that he no longer has an excuse to steal his brother’s wealth and title. The Skillful Fisherman then plots to kill his brother, but the Happy Hunter thwarts his plan by using talismans given to him by the Sea King. The Skillful Fisherman is thus impressed by his brother’s power and vows to be obedient to him from then on.

8.3

How Geirald the Coward Was Punished

The Brown Fairy Book

by Andrew Lang

Rosald, the son of a poor knight, and Geirald, the son of a rich man, head on a quest commissioned by Geirald’s father. In return for taking care of Rosald’s expenses, Geirald requests that Rosald give all credit of their quest to him. Rosald agrees and his ability to keep his promise proves to change his luck.

8.4

8.5

“The Horse, Hunter, and Stag”

Aesop's Fables

by Aesop

A Horse and Stag quarreled. The Horse asked a Hunter to help him catch the Stag. The Horse agreed to wear a bridle and saddle to help the Hunter help him. After catching the Stag the Hunter would not take the bridle and saddle off.

8.6

Story of Wali Dad the Simple-Hearted

The Brown Fairy Book

by Andrew Lang

An old man saves his money and does not know what to do with it. He buys a beautiful bracelet and gives it to a princess who sends him an extravagant gift that he then immediately sends to a prince. There is a constant exchange of gifts between the three until the old man is transformed into a man of great wealth and the prince and princess find each other.

8.7

8.8

8.9

The Chimes, a Goblin Story

Dickens' Christmas Stories

by Charles Dickens

This is a greatly abridged children's version of Dickens' 1844 Christmas novella. An old fellow named Trotty thinks the church bells are talking to him when they chime each quarter hour. When he visits the church to see why they are saying things to him he has a dream in which the bells really do speak to him, and the dream changes Trotty’s life.

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