BVBook Verdict

If you liked

Books like Hatchet

Loved Hatchet by Gary Paulsen? Here are 10 books with a similar appeal — drawn mostly from young adult, ranked by how confidently we'd recommend them next.

10 books · ranked

  1. 1

    The Hunger Games

    Suzanne Collins · 2008 · Young Adult

    A girl volunteers for a televised fight to the death to save her sister; a propulsive, sharp dystopian thriller.

  2. 2

    The Fault in Our Stars

    John Green · 2012 · Young Adult

    Two teenagers with cancer fall in love; funny and heartbreaking without ever being saccharine.

  3. 3

    The Hate U Give

    Angie Thomas · 2017 · Young Adult

    A teenager witnesses a police shooting and finds her voice; urgent, powerful and humane.

  4. 4

    Howl's Moving Castle

    Diana Wynne Jones · 1986 · Young Adult

    As the oldest daughter, willful, outspoken Sophie knew that her life could lead to nothing but mistakes. When her father dies, her stepmother sends her two sisters out to make their fortunes while Sop

  5. 5

    The Whipping Boy

    Sid Fleischman · 1986 · Young Adult

    A shout comes echoing up the stairway. "Fetch the whipping boy!" A young orphan named Jemmy rouses from his sleep. "Ain't I already been whipped twice today? Gaw! What's the prince done now?" It was f

  6. 6

    Holes

    Louis Sachar · 1988 · Young Adult

    Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnatses. Now Stanley has been unjustly s

  7. 7

    The Witches

    Roald Dahl · 1983 · Young Adult

    A young boy and his Norwegian grandmother, who is an expert on witches, together foil a witches' plot to destroy the world's children by turning them into mice.

  8. 8

    The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3

    Sue Townsend · 1982 · Young Adult

    From book jacket: Adrian Mole is a worrier. The problems of existence hit him hard. Spots, bits of him that won't seem to keep still, the cracks in his parents' marriage, all prey heavily on his mind.

  9. 9

    The BFG

    Roald Dahl · 1980 · Young Adult

    This book is a great book for all ages. It is a fantasy/adventure book.The BFG stands for 'Big Friendly Giant'. He isn't like other giants, instead of going out to different countries to eat children

  10. 10

    Sofies verden

    Jostein Gaarder · 1991 · Young Adult

    A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty m

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