Books like Don't Hurt Laurie
If you liked Don't Hurt Laurie, read Baby-Sitting Is a Dangerous Job, Twisted Summer, or 101 Ways to Bug Your Parents — the closest matches in our database, matched on shared themes, shared award lists, and reading level.
Closest match: Baby-Sitting Is a Dangerous Job by Willo Davis Roberts
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Looking for books like Don't Hurt Laurie by Willo Davis Roberts (Realistic Fiction · grades 4–8)? It’s most often read for its themes of child abuse, child abuse, fiction, and parent and child, fiction. 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 4–8 reader. See how we judge text difficulty on our methodology page.
10 books similar to Don't Hurt Laurie
Baby-Sitting Is a Dangerous JobWillo Davis Roberts
Twisted SummerWillo Davis Roberts
101 Ways to Bug Your ParentsLee Wardlaw- Sharing SusanEve BuntingSharing SusanEve Bunting
Good Night, Mr. TomMichelle Magorian
Don’t You Dare Read This, Mrs. DunphreyMargaret Peterson Haddix
The True Colors of Caitlynne JacksonCarol Lynch Williams
Call Me HopeGretchen Olson
Cody UnpluggedBetsy Duffey
Are You There God? It's Me, MargaretJudy Blume
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Why each is a match
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- Baby-Sitting Is a Dangerous Jobgrades 3–8
- Is by Willo Davis Roberts, the same author, both on the Young Hoosier Book Award list, and same genre (Realistic Fiction). Amazon → books like this →
- Twisted Summergrades 6–8
- Is by Willo Davis Roberts, the same author, both on the Young Hoosier Book Award list, and overlapping grades (6–8). Amazon → books like this →
- 101 Ways to Bug Your Parentsgrades 4–6
- Shares themes of parent and child, fiction, same genre (Realistic Fiction), and overlapping grades (4–6). Amazon → books like this →
- Sharing Susangrades 2–8
- Shares themes of parent and child, fiction, same genre (Realistic Fiction), and overlapping grades (2–8). Amazon → books like this →
- Good Night, Mr. Tomgrades 6–8
- Shares themes of child abuse and overlapping grades (6–8). Amazon → books like this →
- Don’t You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphreygrades 6–9
- Shares themes of child abuse, same genre (Realistic Fiction), and overlapping grades (6–9). Amazon → books like this →
- The True Colors of Caitlynne Jacksongrades 6–9
- Shares themes of child abuse, same genre (Realistic Fiction), and overlapping grades (6–9). Amazon → books like this →
- Call Me Hopegrades 3–5
- Shares themes of child abuse, same genre (Realistic Fiction), and overlapping grades (3–5). Amazon → books like this →
- Cody Unpluggedgrades 3–5
- Shares themes of children, fiction, same genre (Realistic Fiction), and overlapping grades (3–5). Amazon → books like this →
- Are You There God? It's Me, Margaretgrades 4–6
- Both on the Young Hoosier Book Award list, same genre (Realistic Fiction), and overlapping grades (4–6). Amazon → books like this →
Common questions
- What books are similar to Don't Hurt Laurie?
- The 10 closest matches to Don't Hurt Laurie by Willo Davis Roberts on ReadingList include Baby-Sitting Is a Dangerous Job, Twisted Summer, 101 Ways to Bug Your Parents, Sharing Susan, and Good Night, Mr. Tom. Each is scored on shared themes (child abuse, child abuse, fiction, and parent and child, fiction), shared award lists, genre, and reading level (grades 4–8), and links to the curricula, states, and grades where it is assigned in US schools, with primary sources.
- Are books like Don't Hurt Laurie reading-level appropriate?
- Yes — every match is a reading-level match, not just a topical one, scored on Lexile and grade band (grades 4–8), 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.