Who Wrote The Maze Runner? Genre, Reading Level and Age Range
James Dashner wrote The Maze Runner, and Delacorte Press published it in October 2009. It is a young adult dystopian science fiction novel of about 375 pages, usually rated for readers aged 12 and up.
Its Lexile measure is 770L, which is lower than its subject matter suggests.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Author | James Dashner |
| Published | October 2009, Delacorte Press |
| Genre | Young adult, dystopian, science fiction |
| Length | About 375 pages (editions list up to 384) |
| Lexile | HL770L |
| Age range | 12 and up (grade 7 and up) |
Who is James Dashner?
James Dashner was born in 1972 in Austell, Georgia, and studied accounting at Brigham Young University. He lives in Utah and writes adventure, survival and science fiction for young readers.
Before The Maze Runner he published The Journal of Curious Letters (2008), the first book in his 13th Reality series.
↑ Back to the topWhen was it published and what kind of book is it?
The Maze Runner came out in autumn 2009 from Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House, with cover art by Philip Straub. It is a post-apocalyptic dystopian novel, and the first of a series that now has five main books. It was made into a film in 2014.
It was named to the American Library Association's Best Fiction for Young Adults list in 2011 and won a Young Reader's Choice Award in 2012.
↑ Back to the topWhat is the reading level?
Published scores for the first book include a Lexile measure of 770L, an Accelerated Reader level of 5.3 and a grade-level equivalent of about 6. Those numbers measure sentence and vocabulary difficulty only, and they put the book in the middle-school range.
Scores differ between sites, so treat them as a guide. Lexile's own tools give the official number for a given edition.
↑ Back to the topWhat age is it for?
The publisher lists it for ages 12 and up and grade 7 and up. Reference sites such as SuperSummary give 12 to 18 years, and school reading lists place it in grades 7 to 12.
The language is simple, but the story involves death, violence and young people in danger, so the content is more demanding than the reading level suggests. For a younger or more sensitive reader it is worth checking the story first.
↑ Back to the topMore about The Maze Runner
This guide covers the novels and the films as published and released. Page counts and reading-level scores vary by source and edition.