BVBook Verdict

If you liked

Books like Number the Stars

Loved Number the Stars by Lois Lowry? Here are 10 books with a similar appeal — drawn mostly from history, ranked by how confidently we'd recommend them next.

10 books · ranked

  1. 1

    Sapiens

    Yuval Noah Harari · 2011 · History

    A sweeping history of humanity from the emergence of Homo sapiens in Africa to the present, arguing that what made humans uniquely powerful was the ability to create and believe in shared fictions — nations, religions, money — that allowed large-scale social cooperation impossible for other species. One of the bestselling non-fiction books of the 21st century.

  2. 2

    Guns, Germs, and Steel

    Jared Diamond · 1997 · History

    Why some societies came to dominate others, argued from geography rather than race; sweeping and influential.

  3. 3

    The Warmth of Other Suns

    Isabel Wilkerson · 2010 · History

    The Great Migration of Black Americans told through three unforgettable lives; monumental narrative history.

  4. 4

    The Longest Day

    Cornelius Ryan · 1901 · History

    A clear, well-researched, and very readable account of Operation Overlord as told by survivors. Skip the Ambrose book and read this instead.

  5. 5

    My Cousin Rachel

    Daphne du Maurier · 1900 · History

    Orphaned at an early age, Philip Ashley is raised by his benevolent older cousin, Ambrose. Resolutely single, Ambrose delights in Philip as his heir, a man who will love his grand home as much as he d

  6. 6

    The red true story book

    Henry Justice Ford · 1895 · History

    Romanticized accounts of battles, conquests, shipwrecks, torture and other occasions for heroism. The stories are taken from a variety of sources, and a wide range of European history, and the sympath

  7. 7

    The Scarlet Plague

    Jack London · 1910 · History

    It is the year 2072, sixty years on from the scarlet plague that decimated the earth's population. As one of the few who knew life before the plague, James Howard Smith tries to impart what he knows t

  8. 8

    Five Little Peppers Midway

    Margaret Sidney · 1890 · History

    Pepper children, especially Phonsie, win over their hoity-toity cousin while taking joy in their mother's wedding.

  9. 9

    The world crisis, 1911-1918

    Winston S. Churchill · 1915 · History

    'A chronicle of World War I recounts the major campaigns, outlines the strategies forged by the generals, and details the beginnings of modern warfare. "Churchill was alive to his task with every nerv

  10. 10

    The eyes of Asia

    Rudyard Kipling · 1916 · History

    "A series of letters purporting to be written by an East Indian officer wounded in France to his relatives at home." - New York Times Book Review, Oct. 20, 1918.

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