What books are similar to Heart and Soul?

The 10 closest matches to Heart and Soul by Kadir Nelson on ReadingList include A Few Red Drops, Brown Girl Dreaming, Elijah of Buxton (Scholastic Gold), Gaither Sisters Trilogy Collection, and Hand in Hand. Each is scored on shared themes, shared award lists, genre, and reading level (grades 4–8), and links to the curricula, states, and grades where it is assigned in US schools, with primary sources.

Are books like Heart and Soul reading-level appropriate?

Yes — every match is a reading-level match, not just a topical one, scored on Lexile and grade band (grades 4–8), 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 Heart and Soul

If you liked Heart and Soul, read A Few Red Drops, Brown Girl Dreaming, or Elijah of Buxton (Scholastic Gold) — the closest matches in our database, matched on shared award lists and reading level.

Looking for books like Heart and Soul by Kadir Nelson? 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 4–8 reader. See how we judge text difficulty on our methodology page.

Reading the whole similar-books list? Kids who struggle with the print versions often finish the assigned books by listening.

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Why each is a match

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A Few Red Dropsgrades 7–12: Both on the Coretta Scott King Author Award list, overlapping grades (7–12), and the same era (2010s). Amazon →
Brown Girl Dreaming990L: Both on the Coretta Scott King Author Award list, overlapping grades (5–8), and the same era (2010s). Amazon →
Elijah of Buxton (Scholastic Gold)grades 5–8: Both on the Coretta Scott King Author Award list, overlapping grades (5–8), and the same era (2010s). Amazon →
Gaither Sisters Trilogy Collectiongrades 5–8: Both on the Coretta Scott King Author Award list, overlapping grades (5–8), and the same era (2010s). Amazon →
Hand in Handgrades 4–8: Both on the Coretta Scott King Author Award list, overlapping grades (4–8), and the same era (2010s). Amazon →
New Kidgrades 4–8: Both on the Coretta Scott King Author Award list, overlapping grades (4–8), and the same era (2010s). Amazon →
One Crazy Summer750L: Both on the Coretta Scott King Author Award list, overlapping grades (5–8), and the same era (2010s). Amazon →
P.S. Be Elevengrades 5–8: Both on the Coretta Scott King Author Award list, overlapping grades (5–8), and the same era (2010s). Amazon →
Piecing Me Togethergrades 7–12: Both on the Coretta Scott King Author Award list, overlapping grades (7–12), and the same era (2010s). Amazon →
Bad News for Outlawsgrades 3–7: Both on the Coretta Scott King Author Award list and overlapping grades (3–7). Amazon →

Book data last updated 2026-07-07. Matches are computed from each book’s cited attributes — see the methodology.

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Books like Heart and Soul

10 books similar to Heart and Soul

Why each is a match