Books like Something Like Home

If you liked Something Like Home, read Bud, Not Buddy, Invisible Isabel, or Louder Than Hunger — the closest matches in our database, matched on shared themes, shared award lists, and reading level.

Looking for books like Something Like Home by Andrea Beatriz Arango (Verse Novel · grades 6–8)? It’s most often read for its themes of family, identity, and perseverance. 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 6–8 reader. See how we judge text difficulty on our methodology page.

10 books similar to Something Like Home

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Why each is a match

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Bud, Not Buddy950L
Shares themes of family, identity, and perseverance and overlapping grades (4–7). Amazon → books like this →
Invisible Isabelgrades 3–6
Shares themes of family and identity, both on the Rhode Island Children's Book Award list, and overlapping grades (3–6). Amazon → books like this →
Louder Than Hungergrades 7–12
Shares themes of identity, both on the South Carolina Junior Book Award list, and same genre (Verse Novel). Amazon → books like this →
Other Words for Home930L
Shares themes of family and identity, same genre (Verse Novel), and overlapping grades (4–7). Amazon → books like this →
The Crossover750L
Shares themes of family and identity, same genre (Verse Novel), and overlapping grades (5–8). Amazon → books like this →
The Last Hope in Hopetowngrades 6–8
Shares themes of family and identity, both on the Virginia Readers' Choice list, and overlapping grades (6–8). Amazon → books like this →
The Lost Yeargrades 6–8
Shares themes of family and perseverance, both on the South Carolina Junior Book Award list, and overlapping grades (6–8). Amazon → books like this →
A Work in Progressgrades 4–8
Shares themes of identity, same genre (Verse Novel), and overlapping grades (4–8). Amazon → books like this →
Bookedgrades 5–8
Shares themes of family, same genre (Verse Novel), and overlapping grades (5–8). Amazon → books like this →
Boy 2.0grades 4–8
Shares themes of family and identity and overlapping grades (4–8). Amazon → books like this →

Books like Something Like Home for younger readers (K–2)

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

Books like Something Like Home for elementary readers (grades 3–5)

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

  • Bea and the New Deal Horse by L. M. Elliott · grades 3–5 — Shares themes of family and perseverance and both on the Virginia Readers' Choice list.
  • Hoops by Matt Tavares · grades 3–5 — Shares themes of perseverance and both on the South Carolina Junior Book Award list (+1 more shared list).
  • Curveball by Pablo Cartaya · grades 3–5 — Shares themes of family and perseverance.
  • Doña Quixote: Rise of the Knight by Rey Terciero · grades 3–6 — Shares themes of family and identity and overlapping grades (3–6).
  • Growing Home by Beth Ferry · grades 3–5 — Shares themes of family and perseverance.

Books like Something Like Home for middle school (grades 6–8)

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

  • Brick Dust and Bones by M.R. Fournet · grades 6–8 — Shares themes of family and perseverance and overlapping grades (6–8).
  • Control Freaks by J.E. Thomas · grades 6–8 — Shares themes of identity and perseverance and overlapping grades (6–8).
  • Doña Quixote: Rise of the Knight by Rey Terciero · grades 3–6 — Shares themes of family and identity and overlapping grades (3–6).
  • Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay · grades 7–12 — Shares themes of family and identity and overlapping grades (7–12).
  • Good Different by Meg Eden Kuyatt · grades 6–9 — Shares themes of identity, same genre (Verse Novel), and overlapping grades (6–9).

Books like Something Like Home for high school & teens (grades 9–12)

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

  • Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay · grades 7–12 — Shares themes of family and identity and overlapping grades (7–12).
  • Good Different by Meg Eden Kuyatt · grades 6–9 — Shares themes of identity, same genre (Verse Novel), and overlapping grades (6–9).
  • Never Thought I'd End Up Here by Ann Liang · grades 7–12 — Shares themes of family and identity and overlapping grades (7–12).
  • Ruby Lost and Found by Christina Li · grades 6–9 — Shares themes of family and identity and overlapping grades (6–9).
  • Shut Up, This Is Serious by Carolina Ixta · grades 9–12 — Shares themes of family and identity.

Common questions

What books are similar to Something Like Home?
The 10 closest matches to Something Like Home by Andrea Beatriz Arango on ReadingList include Bud, Not Buddy, Invisible Isabel, Louder Than Hunger, Other Words for Home, and The Crossover. Each is scored on shared themes (family, identity, and perseverance), shared award lists, genre, and reading level (grades 6–8), and links to the curricula, states, and grades where it is assigned in US schools, with primary sources.
Are books like Something Like Home reading-level appropriate?
Yes — every match is a reading-level match, not just a topical one, scored on Lexile and grade band (grades 6–8), 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.

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

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