Welcome to the Bank Street Children's Book Committee's (CBC) Searchable Best Books List, a tool designed to help educators, families, librarians, and others access developmentally appropriate and engaging books for young readers (ages birth - 18).

Our online Searchable Best Books List draws from the committee's annual Best Children's Books of the Year-beginning with the list of books published in 2000-with each featuring more than 600 high-quality titles for young readers.

To share feedback about the tool, please feel free to email bookcom@bankstreet.edu. To learn more about the CBC, visit https://www.bankstreet.edu/cbc/.

How to Perform a Search and Save a List

Slouch
Christina Wyman
Ages: 12+
Published: 2024
Seventh grader Stevie is 5'10" and has to deal with unwanted comments about her appearance. Joining the debate club gives her confidence to speak out. Moving author's foreword.

Sona and the Golden Beasts
Rajani LaRocca
Ages: 12+
Published: 2024
Sona discovers that she's the product of an illegal mixed marriage. She must journey with a friend and an orphaned wolf pup to a sacred space to free her land.

Songbird and the Rambutan Tree, The
Lucille Abendanon
Ages: 12+
Published: 2024
In 1942, 11-year-old Emmy, a Dutch national, is interned in the Japanese-run Tjideng prison camp. Can she survive its brutal conditions? Based on the author's grandmother's experience. Mature content

Splinter & Ash (Splinter & Ash series)
Marieke Nijkamp
Illustrator: Vivienne To
Ages: 12+
Published: 2024
Returning to her kingdom after a long absence, Princess Adelisa (Ash) discovers the palace is not safe. Splinter, a girl wanting to be a squire, vows to protect her. Map. Greyscale spot art.

Swimming with Spies
Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger
Illustrator: map by Jim McMahon/Mapman®
Ages: 12+
Published: 2024
In 2014, with Russian aggression escalating in Ukraine, 12-year-old Sofiya works with her father, director of the Sevastopol dolphinarium, to save the animals in their care. Based on true events. Back matter. Glossary.

Taxi Ghost
Sophie Escabasse
Illustrator: Sophie Escabasse
Ages: 12+
Published: 2024
Originally unnerved to discover that she can see ghosts and communicate with them, Adèle comes to embrace being a medium and the adventures it brings her. Lively, colorful artwork.

Three Summers: A Memoir of Sisterhood, Summer Crushes, and Growing Up on the Eve of War
Amra Sabic-El-Rayess, with Laura L. Sullivan
Ages: 12+
Published: 2024
Amra describes her strong family ties and life as a Muslim in Bosnia before the war there in 1992 tore her community apart. Extensive back matter.

Thunder City (Mortal Engines series)
Philip Reeve
Ages: 12+
Published: 2024
A small band of unlikely allies race to overthrow a dictator in a world where combative mobile cities can mow down and absorb smaller ones.

Twelfth Night
William Shakespeare, adapted by Georghia Ellinas
Illustrator: Jane Ray
Ages: 12+
Published: 2024
Feste the Fool tells the story of mistaken identities, clever disguises, and unrequited love when shipwrecked twins Viola and Sebastian arrive separately on the shores of Illyria. Watercolor illustrations.

Ultraviolet
Aida Salazar
Ages: 12+
Published: 2024
Elio 13, grapples with first love and conflicting feelings about his role as a boy within his Mexican culture. Affecting, unusual portrayal of male puberty. Free verse.

Virus Hunters: How Science Protects People When Outbreaks and Pandemics Strike
Amy Cherrix
Ages: 12+
Published: 2024
Scientists spend their entire careers searching for the cures to a single disease. The author details the journey to discover vaccines for smallpox, HIV/AIDS and COVID. Photos. Bibliography, index.

Wall to Wall: Mural Art around the World
Mary Ann Fraser, with Elizabeth Nicholson
Illustrator: Mary Ann Fraser
Ages: 12+
Published: 2024
The ancient Cave of the Hands in Argentina, Shamsia Hassani's contemporary graffiti in Afghanistan, and 15 other masterpieces are depicted, along with information about their history, the techniques used to produce them, and their creators. Lush illustrations. Photographs. Back matter.

War of the Wind
Victoria Williamson
Ages: 12+
Published: 2024
After Max loses his hearing in a boating accident, he is angry and friendless. Will the new wind turbines bringing great Wi-Fi to his island help him? ASL and BSL charts. Map.

We Are Big Time
Hena Kahn
Illustrator: Safiya Zerrougui
Ages: 12+
Published: 2024
Aliya exits her basketball league to move from Florida to Wisconsin. At her Muslim school, she challenges stereotypes that question her ability to excel in basketball while wearing a hijab. Dynamic artwork.

Westfallen (Westfallen series)
Ann Brashares and Ben Brashares
Ages: 12+
Published: 2024
Three children in 2023, able to communicate with three children in 1944, share information about World War II, changing the outcome. Can they reverse what they have done?

What's Eating Jackie Oh?
Patricia Park
Ages: 12+
Published: 2024
Second-generation Korean American senior Jackie struggles with her parents' expectations but finds solace at her grandparents' deli. Her passion for food lands her on a competitive cooking show. Recipes.

When Forests Burn: The Story of Wildfire in America
Albert Marrin
Ages: 12+
Published: 2024
A detailed history of forests, forest fires, and firestorms in America from the Ice Age to the present day. Archival photographs. Notes, sources, index.

Where Wolves Don't Die
Anton Treuer
Illustrator: Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley
Ages: 12+
Published: 2024
Ninth grader Ezra is wrongly suspected of murder and arson. His father sends him to the Canadian Ojibwe reservation for safety and to learn traditional skills from Grandpa Liam. Bold greyscale spot art.

Wild River and the Great Dam, The: The Construction of the Hoover Dam and the Vanishing Colorado River
Simon Boughton
Ages: 12+
Published: 2024
A comprehensive history of the people, the politics, and the astounding engineering feats behind the building of the Hoover Dam, with commentary on its current environmental impact. Archival photographs. Extensive back matter.

Wires Crossed
Beth Fantaskey
Illustrator: ONeillJones
Ages: 12+
Published: 2024
Outsider Mia is thrilled when her science camp friend Tariq moves to town. But excitement soon turns to disappointment—until the science Olympics is announced. Brightly colored artwork.

Witch Hunt: The Cold War, Joe McCarthy, and the Red Scare
Andrea Balis and Elizabeth Levy
Illustrator: Tim Foley
Ages: 12+
Published: 2024
The rise and fall of a senator from Wisconsin who exploited post-WWII fear of the Soviet Union and Communism, unjustly persecuting many without evidence. Black-and-white illustrations. Extensive back matter.

With Just One Wing
Brenda Woods
Ages: 12+
Published: 2024
After a curveball summer, Coop, an almost 12-year-old adopted Black boy, faces giving up the maimed baby mockingbird he had rescued.

World Divided by Piper, The
Caela Carter
Ages: 12+
Published: 2024
About to participate in an Academic Decathlon, 11-year-old Piper resists her mother's efforts to end the injections Piper has been receiving to treat precocious puberty. Black-and-white illustrations.

Akane-banashi (Akane-banashi series)
Yuki Suenaga
Illustrator: Takamasa Moue
Ages: 12+
Published: 2023
When her father's dreams of becoming a master rakugo storyteller are dashed, daughter Akane vows to take up the mantle and avenge his disgrace. Dramatic black-and-white artwork. Endnotes.

Alebrijes
Donna Barba Higuera
Illustrator: David Álvarez
Ages: 12+
Published: 2023
Orphans Leandro and sister Gabi survive the harsh reality of post-apocalyptic California and are the catalysts for ultimately building a better society. Soft, finely detailed black-and-white illustrations.