Books like Day of Tears

If you liked Day of Tears, read Copper Sun, The Land, or A Few Red Drops — the closest matches in our database, matched on shared award lists and reading level.

Closest match: Copper Sun by Sharon Draper

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Looking for books like Day of Tears by Julius Lester? 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.

10 books similar to Day of Tears

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Why each is a match

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Copper Sungrades 9–12
Both on the Coretta Scott King Author Award list, overlapping grades (9–12), and the same era (2000s). Amazon → books like this →
The Landgrades 7–12
Both on the Coretta Scott King Author Award list, overlapping grades (7–12), and the same era (2000s). Amazon → books like this →
A Few Red Dropsgrades 7–12
Both on the Coretta Scott King Author Award list and overlapping grades (7–12). Amazon → books like this →
Forged by Firegrades 7–10
Both on the Coretta Scott King Author Award list and overlapping grades (7–10). Amazon → books like this →
March Book Threegrades 9–12
Both on the Coretta Scott King Author Award list and overlapping grades (9–12). Amazon → books like this →
Nigeria Jonesgrades 9–12
Both on the Coretta Scott King Author Award list and overlapping grades (9–12). Amazon → books like this →
Piecing Me Togethergrades 7–12
Both on the Coretta Scott King Author Award list and overlapping grades (7–12). Amazon → books like this →
Twenty-Four Seconds from Now . . .grades 7–10
Both on the Coretta Scott King Author Award list and overlapping grades (7–10). Amazon → books like this →
A Curse Dark as Goldgrades 9–12
Overlapping grades (9–12) and the same era (2000s). Amazon → books like this →
A Hat Full of Skygrades 9–12
Overlapping grades (9–12) and the same era (2000s). Amazon → books like this →

Common questions

What books are similar to Day of Tears?
The 10 closest matches to Day of Tears by Julius Lester on ReadingList include Copper Sun, The Land, A Few Red Drops, Forged by Fire, and March Book Three. Each is scored on shared themes, 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 Day of Tears 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.

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

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