What books are similar to The Forbidden Book?

The 10 closest matches to The Forbidden Book by Sacha Lamb on ReadingList include Everything We Never Had, Life of Pi, Never Thought I'd End Up Here, Sky's End, and Shut Up, This Is Serious. Each is scored on shared themes (identity, survival, and religion), shared award lists, genre, and reading level (grades 7–12), and links to the curricula, states, and grades where it is assigned in US schools, with primary sources.

Are books like The Forbidden Book reading-level appropriate?

Yes — every match is a reading-level match, not just a topical one, scored on Lexile and grade band (grades 7–12), 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 The Forbidden Book

If you liked The Forbidden Book, read Everything We Never Had, Life of Pi, or Never Thought I'd End Up Here — the closest matches in our database, matched on shared themes, shared award lists, and reading level.

Looking for books like The Forbidden Book by Sacha Lamb (Young Adult Fiction · grades 7–12)? It’s most often read for its themes of identity, survival, and religion. 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 7–12 reader. See how we judge text difficulty on our methodology page.

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Why each is a match

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Everything We Never Hadgrades 7–12: Shares themes of identity, both on the Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award list, and same genre (Young Adult Fiction). Amazon →
Life of Pi830L: Shares themes of identity, survival, and religion and overlapping grades (9–12). Amazon →
Never Thought I'd End Up Heregrades 7–12: Shares themes of identity, both on the Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award list, and same genre (Young Adult Fiction). Amazon →
Sky's Endgrades 7–12: Shares themes of survival, both on the Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award list, and same genre (Young Adult Fiction). Amazon →
Shut Up, This Is Seriousgrades 9–12: Shares themes of identity, same genre (Young Adult Fiction), and overlapping grades (9–12). Amazon →
That's Not My Namegrades 9–12: Shares themes of identity and survival and overlapping grades (9–12). Amazon →
The Silence That Binds Usgrades 9–12: Shares themes of identity, same genre (Young Adult Fiction), and overlapping grades (9–12). Amazon →
American Born Chinese530L: Shares themes of identity, same genre (Young Adult Fiction), and overlapping grades (7–12). Amazon →
Ender's Game780L: Shares themes of identity, same genre (Young Adult Fiction), and overlapping grades (6–10). Amazon →
Louder Than Hungergrades 7–12: Shares themes of identity, both on the Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award list, and overlapping grades (7–12). Amazon →

Books like The Forbidden Book for younger readers (K–2)

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

Beanie the Bansheenie by Eoin Colfer · grades 2–5 — Shares themes of identity.
Buffalo Fluffalo by Bess Kalb · grades K–2 — Shares themes of identity.
How This Book Got Red by Margaret Chiu Greanias · grades K–2 — Shares themes of identity.
Millie Fleur's Poison Garden by Christy Mandin · grades K–3 — Shares themes of identity.
Time to Make Art by Jeff Mack · grades K–3 — Shares themes of identity.

Books like The Forbidden Book for elementary readers (grades 3–5)

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

A Royal Conundrum by Lisa Yee · grades 3–6 — Shares themes of identity.
A Work in Progress by Jarrett Lerner · grades 4–8 — Shares themes of identity and overlapping grades (4–8).
Beanie the Bansheenie by Eoin Colfer · grades 2–5 — Shares themes of identity.
Because of You, John Lewis by Andrea Davis Pinkney · grades 3–5 — Shares themes of identity.
Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes · grades 5–8 — Shares themes of identity and overlapping grades (5–8).

Books like The Forbidden Book for middle school (grades 6–8)

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

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson · 690L — Shares themes of identity, same genre (Young Adult Fiction), and overlapping grades (8–10).
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins · grades 7–12 — Shares themes of survival, both on the Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award list, and overlapping grades (7–12).
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton · 750L — Shares themes of identity, same genre (Young Adult Fiction), and overlapping grades (7–9).
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo · 800L — Shares themes of identity, same genre (Young Adult Fiction), and overlapping grades (8–12).
The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson · grades 7–12 — Shares themes of identity, both on the Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award list, and overlapping grades (7–12).

Books like The Forbidden Book for high school & teens (grades 9–12)

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

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi · grades 9–12 — Shares themes of identity and religion and overlapping grades (9–12).
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson · 690L — Shares themes of identity, same genre (Young Adult Fiction), and overlapping grades (8–10).
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins · grades 7–12 — Shares themes of survival, both on the Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award list, and overlapping grades (7–12).
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood · 750L — Shares themes of identity and religion and overlapping grades (11–12).
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton · 750L — Shares themes of identity, same genre (Young Adult Fiction), and overlapping grades (7–9).

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

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