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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Alvin Ho
by Lenore Look
Illustrator: LeUyen Pham
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
When Alvin receives an invitation to a girl's birthday party, his fear of everything may prevent him from going. Expressive line drawings accompany the humorous text.

Animal Rescue Team
by Sue Stauffacher
Illustrator: Priscilla Lamont
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
Keisha and her family, with help from friends, rescue a deer with a plastic trick-or-treat pumpkin stuck on its head.

Around the World in 100 Days
by Gary Blackwood
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
In England in 1891, Harry Fogg sets off in his motor car on an adventure-filled journey around the world. A follow-up to Verne's Around the World in 80 Days.

As Simple as It Seems
by Sarah Weeks
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
Verbena, a feisty, imaginative girl who suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome, finds the key to who she really is through an unusual summer friendship.

A Tale Dark and Grimm
by Adam Gidwitz
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
A series of fractured fairy tales are pulled together in a humorous, scary narrative.

Best Friends Forever
by Beverly Patt
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
In a fictional scrapbook inspired by her mother's bedtime story, the author chronicles the friendship of two girls once interred in a Japanese prison camp.

Big Nate
written and ill. by Lincoln Peirce
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
Nate's sense of humor helps him survive the many trials and tribulations of middle school.

Black Radishes
by Susan Lynn Meyer
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
In 1940, Gustave and his family move south from Paris to escape the Germans, but even their small village is not safe from anti-Semitism.

Blockhead
by Joseph D'Agnese
Illustrator: John O’Brien
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
The adventurous life and mathematical discoveries of the famous mathematician are accompanied by detailed illustrations.

Boom!
by Mark Haddon
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
Jimbo vividly and humorously tells of a dangerous adventure that begins when he and his friend bug the faculty room.

Boys Without Names
by Kashmira Sheth
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
Gopal, desperate to help his family in Mumbai, becomes trapped as a child slave. He must use his storytelling ability if he has any hope of escape.

Bulu
by Dick Houston
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
An unusual dog is fortunately adopted by an equally unusual couple who left England to make a new life in Zambia conserving wildlife. A true story.

Calamity Jack
by Shannon and Dean Hale
Illustrator: Nathan Hale
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
Jack (of beanstalk fame) and Rapunzel join up to fight evil giants in a turn-of-the-century Western city. Rip-roaring fun and engaging graphics.

Clementine, Friend of the Week
by Sara Pennypacker
Illustrator: Marla Frazee
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
The inimitable Clementine returns and has to deal with the ups and downs of friendship, and a Very Upsetting Thing.

Come to Me, My Chickadee!
written and illustrated by Carol Thompson
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
Ojibwe twins, Chickadee and Makoons are inseparable until the former is kidnapped. Learn about Indian culture and lives as the brothers, inevitably, are united.

Crunch
by Leslie Connor
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
When a gasoline shortage strands his parents far from home, fourteen-year-old Dewey finds a surprising way to help the customers at their suddenly very busy bicycle shop.

Darius Bell and the Glitter Pool
by Odo Hirsch
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
With his family's honor and home at risk, Darius Bell hopes his underground discovery can save the day.

Departure Time
by Truus Matti
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
In this unfolding surrealistic adventure, two alternate stories merge in eleven-year-old Mouse's gradual discovery of her identity.

Dust Devil
by Anne Isaacs
Illustrator: Paul O. Zelinsky
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
Swamp Angel's back and this larger-than-life girl has moved on to the wild west of Montana. A rollicking tall tale with humorous oil paintings.

Ellie McDoodle
written and ill. by Ruth McNally Barshaw
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
Ellie's sketchbook chronicles her family's pet disputes and her own travails pet-sitting and preparing her school report. Entertaining drawings.

Emily's Fortune
by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
After Emily's mother dies, a fellow orphan aids her on her stagecoach journey to join her aunt, as her mother's greedy brother pursues Emily and her fortune. A rollicking adventure.

Escaping the Tiger
by Laura Manivong
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
In 1982, a twelve-year-old and his family escape from Laos to a Thai refugee camp where they spend four long years struggling and hoping to reach America.

Falling In
by Frances O'Roark Dowell
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
Isabelle, an outsider, enters a mysterious world where children mistake her for a witch.

Finding Family
by Tonya Bolden
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
After the death of her strict but loving aunt, twelve-year-old Delana sets out to discover the truth about her African-American family. Illustrated with contemporary nineteenth-century photos and postcards.

Finn Reeder Flu Fighter
by Eric Stevens
Illustrator: Kay Fraser
Ages: 9+
Published: 2010
Written in journal form with fun illustrated asides, Finn describes the five weeks in which the H1N1 virus picks off his teachers and friends.