Books like 'The Bean Trees'
Readers who enjoyed The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary 20th century action / adventure literary-fiction classics realistic high-school family indigenous-mc coming-of-age
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Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 49 ratingsThe seventeen pieces in Ficciones demonstrate the whirlwind of Borges's genius and mirror the precision and potency of his intellect and inventiveness, his piercing irony, his skepticism, and his obsession with fantasy...Categorized as:
classics drama high-school historical-fiction journey literary-fiction poc-mc university -
![Captains of the Sands by Jorge Amado]()
Captains of the Sands by Jorge Amado
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsLiving by their wits in the steamy slums of Bahia, a gang of orphans and runaways, led by fifteen-year-old "Bullet," spend their time stealing from Brazil's rich and privileged until public outcry demands their capture... -
![Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst]()
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsThe perennially popular tale of Alexander's worst day is a storybook that belongs on every child's bookshelf.Alexander knew it was going to be a terrible day when he woke up with gum in this hair.And it got worse...His best friend deserted him. There was no dessert in his lunch bag...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age family friendship humor realistic 20th-century action-adventure -
![Corduroy by Don Freeman]()
Corduroy by Don Freeman
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 45 ratingsHave you ever dreamed of being locked in a department store at night? The endearing story of Corduroy paints a picture of the adventures that might unfold (for a teddy bear at least) in such a situation. When all the shoppers have gone home for the night, Corduroy climbs down from the shelf to look for his missing button...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age family friendship literary-fiction poc-mc 20th-century action-adventure -
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![Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey]()
Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsThis classic tale of the famous Mallard ducks of Boston is available for the first time in a full-sized paperback edition. Awarded the Caldecott Medal in 1942, Make Way for Ducklings has been described as "one of the merriest picture books ever" (The New York Times). Ideal for reading aloud, this book deserves a place of honor on every child's bookshelf...Categorized as:
classics family friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction outdoors realistic 20th-century -
![Charlotte's Web by E.B. White]()
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 87 ratingsA gorgeous full-colour large format edition of Charlotte's Web, one of the best-loved animal stories of our time.The unforgettable story of a girl called Fern who loves a little pig called Wilbur. It tells how Charlotte A... -
![The Body by Robin Waterfield, Stephen King]()
The Body by Robin Waterfield, Stephen King
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsFrom Different Seasons The Body, as a media tie-in for the movie starring River Phoenix, Kiefer Sutherland, Wil Wheaton, Corey Feldman and Jerry O'Connell...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age drama friendship high-school historical-fiction humor literary-fiction -
![End of the Game and Other Stories by Julio Cortázar]()
End of the Game and Other Stories by Julio Cortázar
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsEnd of the game is one of the most important collections of stories of the second half of the 20th century. Engaged in transgressing the laws of conventional narrative, in these eighteen stories Julio Cortázar combines intertextuality, an unpublished use of the colloquial and endless game to bring the reader into a particular universe where nothing is what it seems... -
![Searching for David's Heart: A Christmas Story by Cherie Bennett]()
Searching for David's Heart: A Christmas Story by Cherie Bennett
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen her older brother, David, dies in an accident, Darcy feels responsible for his death. Then she meets the boy who received David's heart in an organ transplant, and learns that life truly does go on.A journey of faith, hope, and love.Life at Darcy's house isn't always easy. Money is tight, and her parents argue a lot...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family female-mc friendship realistic 20th-century action-adventure -
![Iza's Ballad by Magda Szabó]()
Iza's Ballad by Magda Szabó
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhen Ettie's husband dies, her daughter Iza insists that her mother give up the family house in the countryside and move to Budapest. Displaced from her community and her home, Ettie tries to find her place in this new life, but can't seem to get it right...Categorized as:
classics family female-mc historical-fiction journey literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure -
![From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg]()
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 73 ratingsWhen Claudia decided to run away, she planned very carefully. She would be gone just long enough to teach her parents a lesson in Claudia appreciation. And she would go in comfort-she would live at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She saved her money, and she invited her brother Jamie to go, mostly because be was a miser and would have money... -
![Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar]()
Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsHoracio Oliveira is an Argentinian writer who lives in Paris with his mistress, La Maga, surrounded by a loose-knit circle of bohemian friends who call themselves "the Club...Categorized as:
classics drama journey literary-fiction poc-mc university 20th-century action-adventure -
![The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford, Carl Burger]()
The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford, Carl Burger
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsInstinct told them that the way home lay to the west. And so the doughty young Labrador retriever, the roguish bull terrier and the indomitable Siamese set out through the Canadian wilderness. Separately, they would soon have died. But, together, the three house pets faced starvation, exposure, and wild forest animals to make their way home to the family they love... -
![Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri]()
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 65 ratingsLibrarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found hereNavigating between the Indian traditions they've inherited and the baffling new world, the characters in Jhumpa Lahiri's elegant, touching stories seek love beyond the barriers of culture and generations...Categorized as:
classics drama family high-school historical-fiction journey literary-fiction poc-mc -
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![The Black Stallion Returns by Walter Farley]()
The Black Stallion Returns by Walter Farley
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn this, the second book in the series, the heart-stopping adventures of the Black Stallion continue as Alec discovers that two men are after the Black. One claims to be the Black’s rightful owner and one is trying to kill the beautiful steed. An Arab chieftain proves his ownership of the Black and takes him away, but Alec is determined to find his horse again... -
![Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume]()
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsLife with his little brother, Fudge, makes Peter Hatcher feel like a fourth grade nothing. Whether Fudge is throwing a temper tantrum in a shoe store, smearing mashed potatoes on the walls at Hamburger Heaven, or trying to fly, he's never far from trouble...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age family friendship humor realistic 20th-century action-adventure -
![Terms of Endearment by Larry McMurtry]()
Terms of Endearment by Larry McMurtry
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsAn Oscar-winning story of a memorable mother and her feisty daughter who find the courage and humor to live through life's hazards and to love each other as never before. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lonesome Dove created two characters who won the hearts of readers and moviegoers everywhere--Aurora Greenway and her daughter Emma... -
![The Truce by Mario Benedetti]()
The Truce by Mario Benedetti
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 26 ratings'Perhaps that moment had been exceptional, but still, I felt alive. That pressure on my chest means being alive.' Forty-nine, with a kind face, no serious ailments (apart from varicose veins on his ankles), a good salary, and three moody children, widowed accountant Martín Santomé is about to retire. He assumes he'll take up gardening, or the guitar, or whatever retired people generally do...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age drama journey literary-fiction poc-mc 20th-century action-adventure -
![The Overstory by Richard Powers]()
The Overstory by Richard Powers
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsThe Overstory is a sweeping, impassioned work of activism and resistance that is also a stunning evocation of - and paean to - the natural world. From the roots to the crown and back to the seeds, Richard Powers’s twelfth novel unfolds in concentric rings of interlocking fables that range from antebellum New York to the late twentieth-century Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond...Categorized as:
classics drama family friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction outdoors realistic -
![The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño]()
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsFirst published in Spanish in 1998, The Savage Detectives was immediately hailed as a critical success, wining the Herralde Prize and the Romulo Gallegos Prize. But with the 2007 English-language translation the book became more than a bestseller -- it began the global sensation of Bolanomania. New Year's Eve 1975, Mexico City... -
![Malgudi Days by R.K. Narayan]()
Malgudi Days by R.K. Narayan
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsFour gems, with new introductions, mark acclaimed Indian writer R. K. Narayan’s centennialIntroducing this collection of stories, R. K. Narayan describes how in India “the writer has only to look out of the window to pick up a character and thereby a story... -
![Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary]()
Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsRamona tries her hardest to be brave and fearless, but now she has her own bedroom it's sometimes a little difficult to be brave - you never know what could be lurking under the bed...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age family friendship humor realistic 20th-century action-adventure -
![The Time of the Hero by Mario Vargas Llosa]()
The Time of the Hero by Mario Vargas Llosa
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsSet among a community of cadets in a Lima military school, it is notable for its experimental and complex employment of multiple perspectives. The novel was so accurate in its portraiture of the academy that the academy's authorities burned one thousand copies and condemned the book as a plan by Ecuador to denigrate Peru...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age drama historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc university 20th-century -
![On the Road: the Original Scroll by Jack Kerouac]()
On the Road: the Original Scroll by Jack Kerouac
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe legendary 1951 scroll draft of On the Road, published as Kerouac originally composed it IN THREE WEEKS in April of 1951, Jack Kerouac wrote his first full draft of On the Road—typed as a single-spaced paragraph on eight long sheets of tracing paper, which he later taped together to form a 120-foot scroll...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age high-school humor journey literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure -
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![Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren]()
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsAstrid Lindgren's story of feisty, red-haired Pippi has been given a sparkling new translation by award-winning Tiina Nunnally and engaging pictures by acclaimed Lauren Child.Pippi Longstocking was first published in the United States in 1950, and has been translated from the original Swedish into ninety-one languages... -
![My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George]()
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsEvery kid thinks about running away at one point or another; few get farther than the end of the block. Young Sam Gribley gets to the end of the block and keeps going--all the way to the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. There he sets up house in a huge hollowed-out tree, with a falcon and a weasel for companions and his wits as his tool for survival...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age family high-school historical-fiction literary-fiction outdoors realistic -
![Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary]()
Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsThis is the second title in the hugely popular series about Ramona Quimby. Ramona doesn't think she's a pest - she knows that she isn't a pest on purpose... -
![The Room on the Roof by Ruskin Bond]()
The Room on the Roof by Ruskin Bond
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe Room on the Roof is a timeless coming-of-age novel that will resonate with a whole new generation of readers. Written by renowned author Ruskin Bond when he was just seventeen, it is the story of Rusty, a teenage Anglo-Indian boy who is orphaned and has to live with his English guardian in the stifling European quarter of Dehra Dun...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age drama friendship humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure -
![LA Trompeta Del Cisne by E.B. White]()
LA Trompeta Del Cisne by E.B. White
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 57 ratingsLouis is a mute swan. His beloved Serena ignores him because of his handicap. To help him, his father steals a trumpet. Louis learns how to play it, not only to give his father the money to pay for the instrument, but also to win Serena's heart...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age family friendship historical-fiction humor literary-fiction outdoors -
![What's Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges]()
What's Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsJust about everything in Endora, Iowa (pop. 1,091 and dwindling) is eating Gilbert Grape, a twenty-four-year-old grocery clerk who dreams only of leaving. His enormous mother, once the town sweetheart, has been eating nonstop ever since her husband's suicide, and the floor beneath her TV chair is threatening to cave in... -
![Second Form At Malory Towers by Enid Blyton]()
Second Form At Malory Towers by Enid Blyton
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsDarrell, Sally, Gwendoline, Mary-Lou and all the other girls from the First Term at Malory Towers are now in the second form and they are as lively as ever. Mam'zelle Dupont is still trying to be strict, Alicia plays a terrible trick with invisible chalk and Gwendoline and Daphne inevitably get into trouble...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age female-mc friendship historical-fiction humor realistic 20th-century -
![How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior]()
How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsA curmudgeonly but charming old woman, her estranged grandson, and a colony of penguins proves it's never too late to be the person you want to be in this rich, heartwarming story from the acclaimed author of Ellie and the Harpmaker.Eighty-five-year-old Veronica McCreedy is estranged from her family and wants to find a worthwhile cause to leave her fortune to...Categorized as:
family female-mc friendship historical-fiction humor journey literary-fiction outdoors -
![First Term at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton]()
First Term at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsDarrell's off to her new school.But what has she packed?1. Tennis racket? Yes2. Pocket-money? Yes3. A lid for her temper? NoOh dear! Malory Towers has a whole trunkload of trouble to come!Darrell and her friends grow together as they share their school days. There are new students to induct, sporting matches to be won, tempers to control and tricks to play on teachers...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age friendship historical-fiction humor literary-fiction realistic 20th-century -
![Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl]()
Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 53 ratingsDanny’s life seems perfect: his home is a gypsy caravan, he’s the youngest car mechanic around, and his best friend is his dad, who never runs out of wonderful stories to tell. And when Danny discovers his father’s secret, he’s off on the adventure of a lifetime. Here’s Roald Dahl’s famous story about a 9-year-old boy, his dad, and a daring and hilarious pheasant-snatching expedition...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age family historical-fiction humor realistic 20th-century action-adventure -
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![Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts]()
Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsTalk about unlucky sevens. An hour ago, seventeen-year-old, seven months pregnant Novalee Nation was heading for California with her boyfriend. Now she finds herself stranded at a Wal-Mart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, with just $7.77 in change...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age drama family female-mc friendship high-school historical-fiction -
![The Dead of Night by John Marsden]()
The Dead of Night by John Marsden
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsA few months after the first fighter jets landed in their own backyard, Ellie and her five terrified but defiant friends struggle to survive amid a baffling conflict. Their families are unreachable; the mountains are now their home. When two of them fall behind enemy lines, Ellie knows what must happen next: a rescue mission...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age drama female-mc friendship high-school historical-fiction realistic -
![The Risk Pool by Richard Russo]()
The Risk Pool by Richard Russo
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Risk Pool is a thirty-year journey through the lives of Sam Hall, a small-town gambling hellraiser, and his watchful, introspective son Ned...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family humor literary-fiction realistic 20th-century action-adventure -
![Son of the Black Stallion by Walter Farley]()
Son of the Black Stallion by Walter Farley
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsWhen Alec receives the Black Stallion’s first son as a gift, he believes his dreams have come true, but Satan’s savage arrogance makes him dangerous and unpredictable. Still, Alec is resolved to gain the fiery colt’s trust, even if he must risk his life to do it... -
![The Summer Book by Tove Jansson]()
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsAn elderly artist and her six-year-old granddaughter while away a summer together on a tiny island in the gulf of Finland. Gradually, the two learn to adjust to each other's fears, whims and yearnings for independence, and a fierce yet understated love emerges - one that encompasses not only the summer inhabitants but the island itself, with its mossy rocks, windswept firs and unpredictable seas... -
![The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie]()
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsIn this darkly comic short story collection, Sherman Alexie, a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian, brilliantly weaves memory, fantasy, and stark realism to paint a complex, grimly ironic portrait of life in and around the Spoke Indian Reservation...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age family high-school historical-fiction humor indigenous-mc literary-fiction -
![The Gift of Numbers by Yōko Ogawa]()
The Gift of Numbers by Yōko Ogawa
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsWinner of the Yomiuri Literature PrizeWinner of the Honya Taisho (The Booksellers Prize)Winner of the Sugaku Shuppan-Sho (from the Japanese Academy of Mathematics)A Japan Foundation Selection A publishing phenomenon in Japan--and a heartwarming story that will change the way we all see math, baseball, memory, and each other She is a housekeeper by trade, a single mom by choice, shy, brilliant,... -
![Chasing Redbird by Sharon Creech]()
Chasing Redbird by Sharon Creech
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 26 ratings“Intriguing, delightful, and touching.” —School Library Journal (starred review)“Creech’s best yet.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)It started out as an ordinary summer. But the minute thirteen-year-old Zinny discovered the old, overgrown trail that ran through the woods behind her family’s house, she realized that things were about to change...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age family female-mc historical-fiction outdoors realistic 20th-century -
![Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary]()
Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsHaving a little sister like four-year-old Ramona isn't always easy for Beezus Quimby. With a wild imagination, disregard for order, and an appetite for chaos, Ramona makes it hard for Beezus to be the responsible older sister she knows she ought to be…especially when Ramona threatens to ruin Beezus's birthday party... -
![Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver]()
Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 53 ratings"Animals dream about the things they do in the day time just like people do. If you want sweet dreams, you've got to live a sweet life." So says Loyd Peregrina, a handsome Apache trainman and latter-day philosopher. But when Codi Noline returns to her hometown, Loyd's advice is painfully out of her reach... -
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![If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino]()
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 66 ratingsItalo Calvino's masterpiece combines a love story and a detective story into an exhilarating allegory of reading, in which the reader of the book becomes the book's central character...Categorized as:
classics drama high-school historical-fiction humor journey literary-fiction realistic -
![The Encyclopedia of the Dead by Danilo Kiš]()
The Encyclopedia of the Dead by Danilo Kiš
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsAn entrancing, otherworldly collection of short stories from one of Europe's most accomplished 20th century writers, new to Penguin Modern ClassicsA counter-prophet attempts the impossible to prove his power; a girl sees the hideous fate of her sisters and father in a mirror bought from a gypsy; the death of a prostitute causes an unanticipated uprising; and the lives of every ordinary person... -
![The Bone People by Keri Hulme]()
The Bone People by Keri Hulme
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsIntegrating both Maori myth and New Zealand reality, The Bone People became the most successful novel in New Zealand publishing history when it appeared in 1984. Set on the South Island beaches of New Zealand, a harsh environment, the novel chronicles the complicated relationships between three emotional outcasts of mixed European and Maori heritage...Categorized as:
classics drama family friendship historical-fiction indigenous-mc journey literary-fiction -
![There's A Boy In The Girl's Bathroom by Louis Sachar]()
There's A Boy In The Girl's Bathroom by Louis Sachar
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsWith the new school counselor's help, Bradley begins to see himself as less of a monster and more of an individual capable of believing in himself... -
![Close Range: Brokeback Mountain and Other stories by Annie Proulx]()
Close Range: Brokeback Mountain and Other stories by Annie Proulx
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsClose Range "Brokeback Mountain" The inspiration behind 'Life of Pi' director Ang Lee's 'Brokeback Mountain' is one of the short stories to be found in this haunting collection of Wyoming tales...Categorized as:
classics drama historical-fiction literary-fiction outdoors survival university 20th-century -
![A Heart So White by Javier Marías]()
A Heart So White by Javier Marías
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAn alternate cover of this ISBN can be found here.Javier Marías's A Heart So White chronicles with unnerving insistence the relentless power of the past. Juan knows little of the interior life of his father Ranz; but when Juan marries, he begins to consider the past anew, and begins to ponder what he doesn't really want to know...Categorized as:
classics drama family historical-fiction journey literary-fiction university 20th-century
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