What books are similar to Billy Budd?

The 10 closest matches to Billy Budd by Herman Melville on ReadingList include A Farewell to Arms, A Tale of Two Cities, Death and the King's Horseman, The Scarlet Letter, and All We Have Left. Each is scored on shared themes (classics, classic literature, and sailors), shared award lists, genre, and reading level (grades 11–12), and links to the curricula, states, and grades where it is assigned in US schools, with primary sources.

Are books like Billy Budd reading-level appropriate?

Yes — every match is a reading-level match, not just a topical one, scored on Lexile and grade band (grades 11–12), 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.

Books like Billy Budd

If you liked Billy Budd, read A Farewell to Arms, A Tale of Two Cities, or Death and the King's Horseman — the closest matches in our database, matched on shared award lists and reading level.

Closest match: A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

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Looking for books like Billy Budd by Herman Melville (Historical Fiction · grades 11–12)? It’s most often read for its themes of classics, classic literature, and sailors. The 10 titles below are the closest matches in the ReadingList database — each scored on shared themes, shared award lists, 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 11–12 reader. See how we judge text difficulty on our methodology page.

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Why each is a match

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A Farewell to Armsgrades 11–12: Both on the Common Core State Standards (ELA) list, same genre (Historical Fiction), and overlapping grades (11–12). Amazon → books like this →
A Tale of Two Cities1170L: Both on the Common Core State Standards (ELA) list, same genre (Historical Fiction), and overlapping grades (9–12). Amazon → books like this →
Death and the King's Horsemangrades 11–12: Both on the Common Core State Standards (ELA) list, same genre (Historical Fiction), and overlapping grades (11–12). Amazon → books like this →
The Scarlet Letter1420L: Both on the Common Core State Standards (ELA) list, same genre (Historical Fiction), and overlapping grades (10–12). Amazon → books like this →
All We Have Leftgrades 9–12: Same genre (Historical Fiction) and overlapping grades (9–12). Amazon → books like this →
Henry IV, Part 1grades 11–12: Same genre (Historical Fiction) and overlapping grades (11–12). Amazon → books like this →
Jude the Obscuregrades 11–12: Same genre (Historical Fiction) and overlapping grades (11–12). Amazon → books like this →
Mansfield Parkgrades 11–12: Same genre (Historical Fiction) and overlapping grades (11–12). Amazon → books like this →
My Ántonia1010L: Same genre (Historical Fiction) and overlapping grades (10–12). Amazon → books like this →
Private Peacefulgrades 9–12: Same genre (Historical Fiction) and overlapping grades (9–12). Amazon → books like this →