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

Search
Advanced Search
Stella's Dancing Days
by Sandy Asher
Illustrator: Kathryn Brown
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
A house kitten's journey toward becoming a cat. Whimsical illustrations.

Storm Maker's Tipi
written and ill. by Paul Goble
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
Storm Maker's gift of the tipi design to the Blackfoot Nation.

Subway Sonata
by Patricia Lakin
Illustrator: Heather Maione
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
New York City mass transit is celebrated as four artistic riders are inspired by fellow passengers to create works of art.

Taiko on a Windy Night
by Sally Derby
Illustrator: Kate Kiesler
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
A cat takes an adventurous nighttime stroll through his neighborhood. Luminous pastels.

Tall Tales
written and ill. by Charles R. Smith, Jr.
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
Magical basketball stories with fast moving illustrations.

The Apple King
by Francesca Bosca
Illustrator: Giuliano Ferri
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
A group of lowly worms teach a lesson to a greedy king .

The Big Flood
by Wendy Pfeffer
Illustrator: Vanessa Lubach
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
A neighborhood pulls together before, during and after the Mississippi floods. Soft but expressive illustrations.

The Black Bull of Norroway
retold by Charlotte Huck
Illustrator: Anita Lobel
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
This traditional folktale has echoes of “ Beauty and the Beast” and other tales of brave heroines.

The Caged Birds of Phnom Penh
by Frederick Lipp
Illustrator: Ronald Himler
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
With love and birds a young Vietnamese girl wishes for a better life for her family.

The Case of the Puzzling Possum
by Cynthia Rylant
Illustrator: G. Brian Karas
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
See The Case of the Troublesome Turtle.

The Case of the Troublesome Turtle
by Cynthia Rylant
Illustrator: G. Brian Karas
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
Two engaging mysteries about disappearing objects.

The Cat Who Loved Mozart
by Patricia Austin
Illustrator: Henri Sorenson
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
A music student turns a feral cat into a loving pet with her music. Lovely illustrations.

The Day Eddie Met the Author
by Louise Borden
Illustrator: Adam Gustavson
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
When an author comes to speak, Eddie has a great question if he's called on. Watercolor illustrations.

The Day Ocean Came to Visit
by Diane Wolkstein
Illustrator: Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
Ocean finally accepts an invitation to visit Sun and Moon's bamboo cottage with startling results.

The Famous Adventures of Jack
by Berlie Doherty
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
In an English village where all men and boys are named Jack, how will Jill know when she has met the right one?

The Girl with 500 Middle Names
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Illustrator: Janet Hamlin
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
Family money problems and a move to a new school challenge a spunky nine-year-old to develop creative survival techniques.

The Good Dog
by Avi
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
A pack-leader malamute who, with canine mates and his boy, foil violent wolf-hunting neighbors.

The Great Pig Search
written and ill. by Eileen Christelow
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
After traveling to Florida to search for lost pigs, Bert and Ethel fail to see the obvious. Humorous illustrations.

The Hungriest Boy in the World
by Lensey Namioka
Illustrator: Aki Sogabe
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
Jiro's family seeks a way to remove a huge monster he accidently swallows.

The Journey
by Sarah Stewart
Illustrator: David Small
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
Hannah, an Amish girl, keeps a diary on her first visit to Chicago. The city sights remind her of her quiet home. Glorious illustrations.

The King's Secret
by Carol Farley
Illustrator: Robert Jew
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
A servant boy helps a fourteenth-century king create a new “Korean way” to make written words.

The Magic Nesting Doll
by Jacqueline K. Ogburn
Illustrator: Laurel Long
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
A magical fantasy based upon the Russian matryosbka, or”nesting dolls.” Lavishly illustrated with oil paintings.

The Man Who Wore All His Clothes
by Allan Ahlberg
Illustrator: Katharine McEwen
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
An action packed day with the Gaskitt family as they foil a bank robbery. Great fun.

The Master Swordsman & The Magic Doorway
retold and ill. by Alice Provensen
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
Little Chu masters the sword, and Mu Chi escapes death through his marvelous paintings. Illustrated in traditional style.

The Merbaby
by Teresa Bateman
Illustrator: Patience Brewster
Ages: 6+
Published: 2001
When Tarron's fishing net pulls up a merbaby, he resists the fame and fortune it could bring, risks the peril of the siren song, and returns her to her folk.