What books are similar to How to Eat Fried Worms?

The 10 closest matches to How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell on ReadingList include My Teacher Is an Alien, The Best School Year Ever, Wayside School Is Falling Down, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and Dogtown. Each is scored on shared themes (humor, friendship, and school), shared award lists, genre, and reading level (grades 3–6), and links to the curricula, states, and grades where it is assigned in US schools, with primary sources.

Are books like How to Eat Fried Worms reading-level appropriate?

Yes — every match is a reading-level match, not just a topical one, scored on Lexile and grade band (grades 3–6), 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 How to Eat Fried Worms

If you liked How to Eat Fried Worms, read My Teacher Is an Alien, The Best School Year Ever, or Wayside School Is Falling Down — the closest matches in our database, matched on shared themes, shared award lists, and reading level.

Looking for books like How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell (Humor · grades 3–6)? It’s most often read for its themes of humor, friendship, and school. 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 3–6 reader. See how we judge text difficulty on our methodology page.

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Why each is a match

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My Teacher Is an Aliengrades 3–6: Shares themes of humor, friendship, and school, both on the Nēnē Award (Hawai'i) list, and overlapping grades (3–6). Amazon → books like this →
The Best School Year Evergrades 3–6: Shares themes of humor and school, both on the Iowa Children's Choice Award (ICCA) list (+1 more shared list), and same genre (Humor). Amazon → books like this →
Wayside School Is Falling Downgrades 3–5: Shares themes of humor, friendship, and school, same genre (Humor), and overlapping grades (3–5). Amazon → books like this →
Diary of a Wimpy Kid950L: Shares themes of humor, friendship, and school, both on the Wisconsin Golden Archer Award list, and overlapping grades (3–7). Amazon → books like this →
Dogtowngrades 3–6: Shares themes of humor, friendship, and courage, both on the Oklahoma Sequoyah Children's Book Award list, and overlapping grades (3–6). Amazon → books like this →
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone880L: Shares themes of friendship and courage, both on the Grand Canyon Reader Award (Arizona) — formerly the Arizona Young Readers Award list (+2 more shared lists), and overlapping grades (4–7). Amazon → books like this →
Smile410L: Shares themes of humor and friendship, both on the Iowa Children's Choice Award (ICCA) list (+1 more shared list), and overlapping grades (4–8). Amazon → books like this →
The Whipping Boygrades 3–7: Shares themes of friendship and courage, both on the Nēnē Award (Hawai'i) list (+1 more shared list), and overlapping grades (3–7). Amazon → books like this →
Big Nate: In a Class by Himself500L: Shares themes of humor, friendship, and school and overlapping grades (4–7). Amazon → books like this →
Chronicles of a Lizard Nobodygrades 4–8: Shares themes of humor, friendship, and school and overlapping grades (4–8). Amazon → books like this →

Books like How to Eat Fried Worms for younger readers (K–2)

Closest matches whose grade range overlaps K–2— same scoring, different audience.

The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey · 720L — Shares themes of humor, friendship, and school and overlapping grades (2–5).
Dog Man by Dav Pilkey · 390L — Shares themes of humor and friendship, both on the Wisconsin Golden Archer Award list, and overlapping grades (2–5).
Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel · 330L — Shares themes of humor and friendship.
Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary · 750L — Shares themes of school, both on the Nēnē Award (Hawai'i) list (+1 more shared list), and overlapping grades (2–4).
A Lot to Like! by Derek Anderson · grades 2–5 — Shares themes of humor and friendship and overlapping grades (2–5).

Books like How to Eat Fried Worms for elementary readers (grades 3–5)

Closest matches whose grade range overlaps 3–5— same scoring, different audience.

Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life by Rachel Renée Russell · 890L — Shares themes of humor, friendship, and school and overlapping grades (4–7).
Hannah Sharpe, Cartoon Detective by Janet Tashjian · grades 3–6 — Shares themes of humor, friendship, and school and overlapping grades (3–6).
J vs. K by Kwame Alexander & Jerry Craft · grades 3–5 — Shares themes of humor, friendship, and school and overlapping grades (3–5).
Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney · grades 4–7 — Shares themes of humor and school, same genre (Humor), and overlapping grades (4–7).
The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey · 720L — Shares themes of humor, friendship, and school and overlapping grades (2–5).

Books like How to Eat Fried Worms for middle school (grades 6–8)

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

Confessions of a Class Clown by Arianne Costner · grades 6–8 — Shares themes of humor, friendship, and school and overlapping grades (6–8).
Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life by Rachel Renée Russell · 890L — Shares themes of humor, friendship, and school and overlapping grades (4–7).
Hannah Sharpe, Cartoon Detective by Janet Tashjian · grades 3–6 — Shares themes of humor, friendship, and school and overlapping grades (3–6).
Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney · grades 4–7 — Shares themes of humor and school, same genre (Humor), and overlapping grades (4–7).
Simon Sort of Says by Erin Bow · grades 6–8 — Shares themes of humor, friendship, and courage and overlapping grades (6–8).

Books like How to Eat Fried Worms for high school & teens (grades 9–12)

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

Allies by Alan Gratz · grades 5–9 — Shares themes of courage, both on the Oklahoma Sequoyah Children's Book Award list (+1 more shared list), and overlapping grades (5–9).
Eragon by Christopher Paolini · grades 6–9 — Shares themes of courage, both on the Grand Canyon Reader Award (Arizona) — formerly the Arizona Young Readers Award list (+3 more shared lists), and overlapping grades (6–9).
The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen · grades 5–9 — Shares themes of courage, both on the Grand Canyon Reader Award (Arizona) — formerly the Arizona Young Readers Award list (+1 more shared list), and overlapping grades (5–9).
Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans · grades 6–9 — Shares themes of friendship and courage and overlapping grades (6–9).
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak · 730L — Shares themes of friendship and courage.

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

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