Before MARUPA: The Legend of the Black Pearl was published I gave unedited copies of the original manuscript to several Albuquerque Public School teachers to independently rate the reading level of MARUPA: The Legend of the Black Pearl and to give me feed back.

One of the Elementary teachers read the manuscript to her 5th grade class. The students loved the story. When she was ready to read a different story to the class, they insisted on reading Marupa again! The teacher personally loved the novel and would highly recommend it to other elementary school teachers to read to their classes.

Another teacher went much farther and actually rated the readability of the novel. She gave it a 4.6 average or a "Range of Readability" of 4th to 5th grade reading level.

The last teacher concurred with the readability rating but added that the "Interest Level" of MARUPA: The Legend of the Black Pearl is up to the 9th grade.

I might mention that all of the adults that have read MARUPA: The Legend of the Black Pearl, have also enjoyed reading the novel. I have had excellent feedback from High School students up to the 12th grade who have also loved reading the novel. Although this book was written primarily for children and young adults, this novel will fulfill any reader's expectations for good reading. So, there you have it. This book is recommended for the 4th grade level up to the 9th grade level of reading, but this 154 page novel will be enjoyed by any reader of any age.