What books are similar to Breathing Room?

The 10 closest matches to Breathing Room by Marsha Hayles on ReadingList include A Night Divided, Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie, Matched, One for the Murphys, and Refugee. Each is scored on shared themes, 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 Breathing Room 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.

Books like Breathing Room

If you liked Breathing Room, read A Night Divided, Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie, or Matched — the closest matches in our database, matched on shared award lists and reading level.

Closest match: A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen

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Looking for books like Breathing Room by Marsha Hayles? 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.

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Why each is a match

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A Night Dividedgrades 5–8: Both on the Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award list, overlapping grades (5–8), and the same era (2010s). Amazon → books like this →
Drums, Girls & Dangerous Piegrades 6–9: Both on the Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award list, overlapping grades (6–9), and the same era (2010s). Amazon → books like this →
Matchedgrades 6–8: Both on the Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award list, overlapping grades (6–8), and the same era (2010s). Amazon → books like this →
One for the Murphysgrades 6–8: Both on the Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award list, overlapping grades (6–8), and the same era (2010s). Amazon → books like this →
Refugee800L: Both on the Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award list, overlapping grades (5–9), and the same era (2010s). Amazon → books like this →
Resistancegrades 6–8: Both on the Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award list, overlapping grades (6–8), and the same era (2010s). Amazon → books like this →
Restart730L: Both on the Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award list, overlapping grades (5–8), and the same era (2010s). Amazon → books like this →
Things Not Seengrades 6–8: Both on the Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award list and overlapping grades (6–8). Amazon → books like this →
When Stars Are Scatteredgrades 5–8: Both on the Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award list and overlapping grades (5–8). Amazon → books like this →
Out of My Mind700L: Both on the Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award list, overlapping grades (4–7), and the same era (2010s). Amazon → books like this →

Books like Breathing Room for elementary readers (grades 3–5)

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

Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea · grades 3–5 — Both on the Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award list and the same era (2010s).
Belly Up by Stuart Gibbs · grades 3–5 — Both on the Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award list and the same era (2010s).
Wish by Barbara O'Connor · grades 3–5 — Both on the Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award list and the same era (2010s).

Common questions

What books are similar to Breathing Room?: The 10 closest matches to Breathing Room by Marsha Hayles on ReadingList include A Night Divided, Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie, Matched, One for the Murphys, and Refugee. Each is scored on shared themes, 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 Breathing Room 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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Books like Breathing Room

10 books similar to Breathing Room

Why each is a match

Books like Breathing Room for elementary readers (grades 3–5)

Common questions

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