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/.
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21: The True Story of the Youth Who Sued the U.S. Government Over Climate Change
Elizabeth Rusch
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
A gripping, detailed look at Juliana v. United States: a still-unsettled landmark lawsuit arguing that the government violated the plaintiffs' rights by failing to provide safe living conditions for present and future generations. Mature content
Elizabeth Rusch
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
A gripping, detailed look at Juliana v. United States: a still-unsettled landmark lawsuit arguing that the government violated the plaintiffs' rights by failing to provide safe living conditions for present and future generations. Mature content
Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed
Dashka Slater
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
A private Instagram account featuring racist memes of Black girls, whom the Korean American account owner considered to be his friends, rips apart a school and community in its aftermath. Mature content
Dashka Slater
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
A private Instagram account featuring racist memes of Black girls, whom the Korean American account owner considered to be his friends, rips apart a school and community in its aftermath. Mature content
All Alone with You
Amelia Diane Coombs
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
High school senior Eloise reluctantly volunteers to help the elderly in order to beef up her college application and unexpectedly finds friendship—and possibly more—with fellow volunteer Austin and 73-year-old Marianne.
Amelia Diane Coombs
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
High school senior Eloise reluctantly volunteers to help the elderly in order to beef up her college application and unexpectedly finds friendship—and possibly more—with fellow volunteer Austin and 73-year-old Marianne.
All That It Ever Meant: A Novel
Blessing Musariri
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
While grieving the death of her mother, 14-year-old Matiponesa shares her story with an invisible spirit guide as the family travels from England to Zimbabwe to mourn.
Blessing Musariri
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
While grieving the death of her mother, 14-year-old Matiponesa shares her story with an invisible spirit guide as the family travels from England to Zimbabwe to mourn.
All That's Left to Say
Emery Lord
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Hannah transfers to private school in senior year, solely focused on finding the dealer who sold her beloved late cousin Fentanyl-laced drugs. Will she find the truth she needs?
Emery Lord
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Hannah transfers to private school in senior year, solely focused on finding the dealer who sold her beloved late cousin Fentanyl-laced drugs. Will she find the truth she needs?
Always the Almost
Edward Underhill
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Miles, a 16-year-old trans boy, resolves to win the Tri-State Piano Competition and find love, but can he support his friends and find joy in being his true self?
Edward Underhill
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Miles, a 16-year-old trans boy, resolves to win the Tri-State Piano Competition and find love, but can he support his friends and find joy in being his true self?
And Other Mistakes
Erika Turner
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
With concurrent stresses of living in a violent home and having been outed at church, African American Aaliyah, 17, a cross-country phenom, needs to create a safety plan for herself. Mature content
Erika Turner
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
With concurrent stresses of living in a violent home and having been outed at church, African American Aaliyah, 17, a cross-country phenom, needs to create a safety plan for herself. Mature content
Appetite for Miracles, An
Laekan Zea Kemp
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Complexities of family life, cultural expectations, challenges of young love, and issues of social justice weave together in this story of two young Mexican American teenagers. In verse.
Laekan Zea Kemp
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Complexities of family life, cultural expectations, challenges of young love, and issues of social justice weave together in this story of two young Mexican American teenagers. In verse.
Artifice
Sharon Cameron
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Isa, desperate for money, decides to sell the Nazis a fake Rembrandt drawn by her father. Can his forgeries be put to other uses? Based on historical figures.
Sharon Cameron
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Isa, desperate for money, decides to sell the Nazis a fake Rembrandt drawn by her father. Can his forgeries be put to other uses? Based on historical figures.
At the End of the World
Nadia Mikail
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
If the world were about to end, how and with whom would you spend your remaining days? A profound, universal exploration of grief and zest for life. Set in Malaysia.
Nadia Mikail
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
If the world were about to end, how and with whom would you spend your remaining days? A profound, universal exploration of grief and zest for life. Set in Malaysia.
At the Speed of Lies
Cindy L. Otis
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
High school junior Quinn has dreams of college and beyond. Can the new school club focused on missing children raise the profile of her Instagram account?
Cindy L. Otis
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
High school junior Quinn has dreams of college and beyond. Can the new school club focused on missing children raise the profile of her Instagram account?
Be That Way
Hope Larson
Illustrator: Hope Larson
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Christine feels unseen next to her best friend Landry and resolves to chronicle her own path to becoming a person with "shine." Frank and funny. Richly illustrated with intricate, varied artwork. Mature content
Hope Larson
Illustrator: Hope Larson
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Christine feels unseen next to her best friend Landry and resolves to chronicle her own path to becoming a person with "shine." Frank and funny. Richly illustrated with intricate, varied artwork. Mature content
Blackwoods, The
Brandy Colbert
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
When legendary actress Blossom Blackwood dies, family secrets emerge. An account of a Black Hollywood dynasty told from multiple generations' points of view.
Brandy Colbert
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
When legendary actress Blossom Blackwood dies, family secrets emerge. An account of a Black Hollywood dynasty told from multiple generations' points of view.
Bodyguard Unit, The: Edith Garrud, Women's Suffrage, and Jujitsu
Clément Xavier, foreword by Elsa Dorlin
Illustrator: Lisa Lugrin, colors by Albertine Ralenti
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
A group of British suffragists used martial arts to defend themselves against police brutality during the fight for the vote before World War I. Bold, colorful panels and archival images and photographs.
Clément Xavier, foreword by Elsa Dorlin
Illustrator: Lisa Lugrin, colors by Albertine Ralenti
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
A group of British suffragists used martial arts to defend themselves against police brutality during the fight for the vote before World War I. Bold, colorful panels and archival images and photographs.
Borderless
Jennifer De Leon
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Sixteen-year-old Maya, a scholarship student at Salomé Fashion Institute in Guatemala City, ignored her mother's warning about gang members invading their neighborhood. Now she must suffer the consequences of that decision.
Jennifer De Leon
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Sixteen-year-old Maya, a scholarship student at Salomé Fashion Institute in Guatemala City, ignored her mother's warning about gang members invading their neighborhood. Now she must suffer the consequences of that decision.
Boy You Always Wanted, The
Michelle Quach
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
When Chinese Vietnamese American Francine overhears her dying grandfather express despair over not having a male heir, she determines to find him an adoptive one. Mature content
Michelle Quach
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
When Chinese Vietnamese American Francine overhears her dying grandfather express despair over not having a male heir, she determines to find him an adoptive one. Mature content
Brighter Than the Sun
Daniel Aleman
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Sixteen-year-old Soledad, who has American citizenship, crosses the border into the U.S. weekly to work to help support her Tijuana family and to attend school. How to shoulder great burdens while carving out one's identity?
Daniel Aleman
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Sixteen-year-old Soledad, who has American citizenship, crosses the border into the U.S. weekly to work to help support her Tijuana family and to attend school. How to shoulder great burdens while carving out one's identity?
Buried and the Bound, The
Rochelle Hassan
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Aziza, Leo, and Tristan confront their families' secrets and betrayals to battle the black magic that violently erodes the boundaries of the human and fairy realms.
Rochelle Hassan
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Aziza, Leo, and Tristan confront their families' secrets and betrayals to battle the black magic that violently erodes the boundaries of the human and fairy realms.
Champion of Fate (Heromaker series)
Kendare Blake
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Adopted by the Aristene, immortal female warriors with magical powers, Reed trains as a fighter, despite knowing her destiny lies in championing a hero who may die.
Kendare Blake
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Adopted by the Aristene, immortal female warriors with magical powers, Reed trains as a fighter, despite knowing her destiny lies in championing a hero who may die.
Chloe and the Kaishao Boys
Mae Coyiuto
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Before Chloe leaves Manila for college in California, her father and aunts set her up on arranged dates to try to keep her closer to home. Tagalog glossary.
Mae Coyiuto
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Before Chloe leaves Manila for college in California, her father and aunts set her up on arranged dates to try to keep her closer to home. Tagalog glossary.
Climate Champions: 15 Women Fighting for Your Future (Women of Power series)
Rachel Sarah
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
These 15 female scientists, activists, journalists, and policy makers are working for intersectional systemic solutions to the climate crisis, which disproportionately affects women, people of color, and the poor.
Rachel Sarah
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
These 15 female scientists, activists, journalists, and policy makers are working for intersectional systemic solutions to the climate crisis, which disproportionately affects women, people of color, and the poor.
Collectors, The: Stories
A. S. King, editor
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Pilfered items from other people's collections, empty pools for vertical skateboarding, and types of fire are among the very unusual collections explored in this anthology.
A. S. King, editor
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Pilfered items from other people's collections, empty pools for vertical skateboarding, and types of fire are among the very unusual collections explored in this anthology.
Cool. Awkward. Black.
Karen Strong, editor
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Eighteen coming-of-age stories about nerds of African descent who traverse the intersections of self and gender identity with the added trauma of discrimination.
Karen Strong, editor
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
Eighteen coming-of-age stories about nerds of African descent who traverse the intersections of self and gender identity with the added trauma of discrimination.
Dear Medusa
Olivia A. Cole
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
After being abused by a popular teacher, 16-year-old bisexual Alicia struggles with body image, promiscuity, and sexual identity, but eventually finds allies in unexpected places. Free verse. Mature content
Olivia A. Cole
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
After being abused by a popular teacher, 16-year-old bisexual Alicia struggles with body image, promiscuity, and sexual identity, but eventually finds allies in unexpected places. Free verse. Mature content
Different for Boys
Patrick Ness
Illustrator: Tea Bendix
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
High schooler Ant struggles to define and understand friendship, romance, and sexuality. Spare text, rough pencil sketches, and redacted phrases raise the emotional power of the story. Mature content
Patrick Ness
Illustrator: Tea Bendix
Ages: 14+
Published: 2023
High schooler Ant struggles to define and understand friendship, romance, and sexuality. Spare text, rough pencil sketches, and redacted phrases raise the emotional power of the story. Mature content