What books are similar to The Maze Runner?

The 10 closest matches to The Maze Runner by James Dashner on ReadingList include Divergent, The Hunger Games, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, That's Not My Name, and Impulse. Each is scored on shared themes (survival, memory, and friendship), 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 Maze Runner 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 Maze Runner

If you liked The Maze Runner, read Divergent, The Hunger Games, or The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants — the closest matches in our database, matched on shared themes, shared award lists, and reading level.

Closest match: Divergent by Veronica Roth

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Looking for books like The Maze Runner by James Dashner (Dystopian · grades 7–12)? It’s most often read for its themes of survival, memory, and friendship. 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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Divergentgrades 8–12: Both on the Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers list (+4 more shared lists), same genre (Dystopian), and overlapping grades (8–12). Amazon → books like this →
The Hunger Games810L: Shares themes of survival, both on the Arizona Grand Canyon Reader Award list (+6 more shared lists), and overlapping grades (6–9). Amazon → books like this →
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsgrades 7–10: Shares themes of friendship, both on the Pacific Northwest Young Reader's Choice Award list (+1 more shared list), and overlapping grades (7–10). Amazon → books like this →
That's Not My Namegrades 9–12: Shares themes of survival, both on the Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers list, and overlapping grades (9–12). Amazon → books like this →
Impulsegrades 9–12: Both on the Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers list (+1 more shared list), overlapping grades (9–12), and the same era (2000s). Amazon → books like this →
Twilightgrades 9–12: Both on the Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers list (+1 more shared list), overlapping grades (9–12), and the same era (2000s). Amazon → books like this →
Shiver (Shiver, Book 1)grades 9–12: Both on the Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers list (+1 more shared list), overlapping grades (9–12), and the same era (2000s). Amazon → books like this →
I'll Give You the Sungrades 9–12: Both on the Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers list (+1 more shared list) and overlapping grades (9–12). Amazon → books like this →
Scythegrades 7–12: Both on the Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers list (+2 more shared lists) and overlapping grades (7–12). Amazon → books like this →
The Fault in Our Stars850L: Both on the Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers list (+3 more shared lists) and overlapping grades (9–12). Amazon → books like this →