Books like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

If you liked A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, read Black Boy, Purple Hibiscus, or The Color Purple — the closest matches in our database, matched on shared themes and reading level.

Closest match: Black Boy by Richard Wright — shares poverty and education

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Looking for books like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (Literary Fiction · grades 9–12)? It’s most often read for its themes of poverty, coming of age, and education. The 10 titles below are the closest matches in the ReadingList database — each scored on shared themes, genre, and reading level, and each linked to the curricula, states, and grades where it’s assigned, with primary sources.

These are reading-level matches, not just topical ones — so the picks stay grade-appropriate for a grades 9–12 reader. See how we judge text difficulty on our methodology page.

10 books similar to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

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Why each is a match

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Black Boy950L
Shares themes of poverty and education and overlapping grades (9–12). Amazon → books like this →
Purple Hibiscus920L
Shares themes of coming of age and family, same genre (Literary Fiction), and overlapping grades (10–12). Amazon → books like this →
The Color Purple670L
Shares themes of poverty and family, same genre (Literary Fiction), and overlapping grades (9–12). Amazon → books like this →
The Secret Life of Bees840L
Shares themes of coming of age and family, same genre (Literary Fiction), and overlapping grades (9–11). Amazon → books like this →
A Lesson Before Dying750L
Shares themes of education, same genre (Literary Fiction), and overlapping grades (8–12). Amazon → books like this →
Bless Me, Ultima840L
Shares themes of coming of age, same genre (Literary Fiction), and overlapping grades (9–12). Amazon → books like this →
The Bluest Eye920L
Shares themes of poverty, same genre (Literary Fiction), and overlapping grades (11–12). Amazon → books like this →
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time1090L
Shares themes of family, same genre (Literary Fiction), and overlapping grades (8–12). Amazon → books like this →
The Joy Luck Club930L
Shares themes of family, same genre (Literary Fiction), and overlapping grades (9–12). Amazon → books like this →
The Poet X800L
Shares themes of coming of age and family and overlapping grades (8–12). Amazon → books like this →

Books like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for middle school (grades 6–8)

Closest matches whose grade range overlaps 6–8— same scoring, different audience.

Books like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for high school & teens (grades 9–12)

Closest matches whose grade range overlaps 9–12— same scoring, different audience.

Common questions

What books are similar to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn?
The 10 closest matches to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith on ReadingList include Black Boy, Purple Hibiscus, The Color Purple, The Secret Life of Bees, and A Lesson Before Dying. Each is scored on shared themes (poverty, coming of age, and education), shared award lists, genre, and reading level (grades 9–12), and links to the curricula, states, and grades where it is assigned in US schools, with primary sources.
Are books like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn reading-level appropriate?
Yes — every match is a reading-level match, not just a topical one, scored on Lexile and grade band (grades 9–12), so the picks stay grade-appropriate. See how ReadingList judges text difficulty on the /standard methodology page.
How does ReadingList choose similar books?
Matches are ranked by shared themes, shared award and reading-program lists (two books picked for the same state award were chosen by the same committees for the same readers), same genre, comparable Lexile and grade band, and publication decade — computed from cited public curriculum data, not editorial opinion or AI-generated summaries.

Book data last updated 2026-09-05. Matches are computed from each book’s cited attributes — see the methodology.

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