Today’s pick is Kate DiCamillo’s Louisiana’s Way Home, a bestselling book about a girl who is forced to leave town — and leave behind her two best friends — with her grandmother. Louisiana also has the voice of an angel and it quickly becomes apparent that her grandmother can barely care for her. Eventually, she has to make her way home. I recommend 7 books for fans of Louisiana’s Way Home.
9 Books Like… Front Desk
Today’s pick is Kelly Yang’s Front Desk, a bestselling book about an immigrant Chinese girl who often mans the front desk at the motel where her parents work. Mia is also passionate about writing and achieves several seemingly impossible goals throughout the story.
8 Books Like… The Night Diary
Today’s pick is Veera Hiranandani’s The Night Diary, a moving book about the Indian partition and a girl dealing with the grief of her mother’s death when she was a baby. The story is told through Nisha’s letters to her mother.
Books Like… To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
For this post, I’ve chosen teen female protagonists with big hearts, messy lives, mostly supportive families, foodie and somewhat bookish tendencies. You’ll also find fake dating and enemies-to-lovers tropes and one or two love triangles. If you or your kids loved this book, here are more books like To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.
10 Books Like… Ramona Quimby, Age 8
Recommending readalikes can be a tricky process, but as I said in the first post in this series, I enjoy the process of finding similar threads running through even books that appear different on the surface. Today’s pick is Beverly Cleary’s Ramona Quimby, Age 8, which is part of the Ramona series. I loved this book, and the movie adaptation of Ramona and Beezus, with Joey King and Selena Gomez (which was my introduction to the series).
8 Books Like… Homegoing
Recommending readalikes can be a tricky process, but as I said in the first post in this series, I enjoy the process of finding similar threads running through even books that appear different on the surface. Today’s pick is Yaa Gyasi’s sweeping debut novel about two sisters separated by events during the African slave trade and the ripple effects throughout their families spanning over several decades.
7 Books Like The One and Only Ivan
Today’s pick is a popular (and loved) book about a gorilla, that is also now a movie. If you love middle-grade books about animals, you’ll likely enjoy the books on this list. If you or your kids loved this book, here are more books like The One and Only Ivan.
8 Books Like More to the Story by Hena Khan
Today’s pick is Hena Khan’s most recent middle-grade book More to the Story, a retelling of the beloved Little Women. I’ve never read Little Women, but I adored this book, which was one of my best books in 2019. Sisters Jameela, Bisma, Maryam and Aleeza are distraught when their father has to move abroad for work — and then one of the sisters falls ill. This is a truly heartwarming, feel-good book featuring a Pakistani-American Muslim family.
If you or your kids loved this book, here are more books like More to the Story.
7 Books Like The Babysitters Club Books
Today’s pick is a much-loved series — a classic, if I do say so myself — following a group of friends who start a babysitting club. I loved the female friendship, the occasional mystery, and the entrepreneurial and goal-oriented nature of the characters in this series. Here are 7 books for fans of The babysitters Club!
6 Books Like… Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Recommending readalikes can be a tricky process, but as I said in the first post in this series, I enjoy the process of finding similar threads running through even books that appear different on the surface. Today’s pick is a new release by Ghanaian author, Yaa Gyasi, a story about the intersection of faith and science, and the grief of losing a son and brother to the opioid epidemic. Without further ado, if you loved this book, here are more books like Transcendent Kingdom.
10 Books Like… Americanah
I enjoy the process of finding similar threads running through even books that appear different on the surface. Today’s pick is a classic by Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie that is both a meditation on race and immigration, as well as a love story. If you haven’t read it yet, you should, as you should all of Adichie’s other books! Here are 10 more books like Americanah.
6 Books Like… Save Me a Seat
Today’s pick is a much-loved book about two boys — one Indian, one American — bullied or mocked for different reasons, who become unlikely friends in the cafeteria of their middle-school. If you haven’t read it yet, you should. This was one of the first middle-grade boy books I ever read (and I loved it!) — the audiobook is really good, with two narrators, one of Indian descent, and the other American. If you or your kids loved this book, here are more books like Save Me a Seat.
