Dikes and Ditches

At a glance

Author

Oliver Optic1822–1897

Genre

Adventure

Readers

Middle grade

Length

Long80,000 to 120,000 words

How long it takes to read

About 5 h 45 min at 250 words a minute, or 9 h 16 min as an audiobook.

More by Oliver Optic

• The Coming WaveOliver OpticThe Coming WaveOliver Optic65,697 words

All books by Oliver Optic

Compared with other books

The books closest in length, and a few well-known ones for scale.

1. 1War and PeaceLeo Tolstoy587,287Compare
2. 2The Fellowship of the RingJ. R. R. Tolkien177,227Compare
3. 3Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen121,970Compare
4. 4MoodsLouisa May Alcott86,379Compare
5. 5The Fever CodeJames Dashner86,298Compare
6. 6Dikes and DitchesOliver Optic86,205
7. 7Anne of Windy PoplarsL. M. Montgomery86,032Compare
8. 8Tales from EarthseaUrsula K. Le Guin85,982Compare
9. 9Harry Potter and the Philosopher's StoneJ. K. Rowling76,944Compare
10. 10The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald47,094Compare

Counted from the text

Automated estimates from the selected Project Gutenberg text; it may include a preface or notes.

Words in the text

86,205

Chapters

20about 4,310 words each

Dialogue

45%of the words are inside quotation marks

Average sentence

14.7 words

Vocabulary

416 different words in every 1,000Distinct words in the sampled text; this does not measure writing quality.

Where the numbers come from

The word count comes from the sources below.

• gutenberg.orgword count
• openlibrary.orgcover and record

The word count is Musael’s own count of the Project Gutenberg text, which can include a preface or notes.

Checked on 2026-10-27. Page counts change from edition to edition. Cover from Open Library; the edition shown may differ.

Questions