What books are similar to The Storm in the Barn?

The 10 closest matches to The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan on ReadingList include Beyond the Bright Sea, Bo at Ballard Creek, Chickadee, Dash (Dogs of World War II), and Dead End in Norvelt. Each is scored on shared themes, shared award lists, genre, and reading level (grades 4–7), and links to the curricula, states, and grades where it is assigned in US schools, with primary sources.

Are books like The Storm in the Barn reading-level appropriate?

Yes — every match is a reading-level match, not just a topical one, scored on Lexile and grade band (grades 4–7), 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 Storm in the Barn

If you liked The Storm in the Barn, read Beyond the Bright Sea, Bo at Ballard Creek, or Chickadee — the closest matches in our database, matched on shared award lists and reading level.

Looking for books like The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan? 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 4–7 reader. See how we judge text difficulty on our methodology page.

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Why each is a match

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Beyond the Bright Seagrades 5–8: Both on the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction list, overlapping grades (5–8), and the same era (2010s). Amazon →
Bo at Ballard Creekgrades 3–6: Both on the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction list, overlapping grades (3–6), and the same era (2010s). Amazon →
Chickadeegrades 4–7: Both on the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction list, overlapping grades (4–7), and the same era (2010s). Amazon →
Dash (Dogs of World War II)grades 4–7: Both on the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction list, overlapping grades (4–7), and the same era (2010s). Amazon →
Dead End in Norveltgrades 4–7: Both on the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction list, overlapping grades (4–7), and the same era (2010s). Amazon →
Elijah of Buxton (Scholastic Gold)grades 5–8: Both on the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction list, overlapping grades (5–8), and the same era (2010s). Amazon →
Full of Beansgrades 4–7: Both on the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction list, overlapping grades (4–7), and the same era (2010s). Amazon →
One Crazy Summer750L: Both on the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction list, overlapping grades (5–8), and the same era (2010s). Amazon →
The Hired Girlgrades 7–12: Both on the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction list, overlapping grades (7–12), and the same era (2010s). Amazon →
A Sea of Lemon Treesgrades 5–8: Both on the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction list and overlapping grades (5–8). 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 The Storm in the Barn

10 books similar to The Storm in the Barn

Why each is a match