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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Long Shot
by Mike Lupica
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
Stories describe middle school basketball and baseball--in depth and with a ring of truth.

lost Time
by Susan Maupin Schmid
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
A twelve-year-old girl seeks her lost parents while battling aliens and a planet dictator.

Love Me Tender
by Audrey Couloumbis
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
Embarrassed by her father who imitates Elvis and alienated from her pregnant acid-tongued mother, Elvira, thirteen, eventually learns she is part of a loving family.

Lucky
by Rachel Vail
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
Over the top plans for an eighth grade graduation celebration are upset--exposing issues of friendship, sisterhood, first love and affluence.

Manolito Four-Eyes
by Elvira Lindo
Illustrator: Emilio Urberuaga
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
The irrepressible Manolito narrates his humorous adventures with his beloved grandfather in his small Madrid neighborhood.

Marley Z and the Bloodstained Violin
by Jim Fusilli
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
Accused of stealing a valuable violin, talented Marisol and her friend use their ingenuity to aid the police.

Masterpiece
by Elise Broach
Illustrator: Kelly Murphy
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
Lonely eleven-year-old James becomes the center of attention when Marvin the beetle creates art in the style of Durer.

Medusa Jones
written and ill. by Ross Collins
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
Can the young snake-haired Medusa of Athens keep her promise not to turn her enemies into stone? Black and white pencil illustrations

Memoies of Babi
by Aranka Siegal
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
A young girl visits her Ukranian grandmother whose life and values have a lasting influence on her.

Minn and Jake's Almost Terrible Summer
by Janet S. Wong
Illustrator: Genevieve Cote
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
When Jake retuns to the city for the summer, his unlikely friendship with Minn is tested. Light-hearted black and white illustrations.

Monsterology
edited by Dugald A. Steer
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
Scientific methodology is applied to the place for monsters in this imaginative journey. Detailed illustrations and text.

More Bones
selected and retold by Arielle North Olson
Illustrator: E.M. Gist
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
Twenty-two spooky tales from China to Egypt, from Spain to Hawaii.

Moribito
by Nahoko Uehashi
Illustrator: Yuko Shimizu
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
The bodyguard, Balsa, must battle monsters and royal enemies to save the life of a prince and a land from drought.

My So-Called Family
by Courtney Sheinmel
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
Thirteen-year-old Leah, conceived by artificial insemination questions the definitions of what constitutes a family.

Mythological Creatures
written and ill. by Lynn Curlee
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
Short retellings of Greek myths including gods, beasts and other creatures are accompanied by strong acrylic paintings.

No Cream Puffs
by Karen Day
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
The question in Madison's hometown in 1980 is whether a twelve-year-old girl can play on a boy's baseball team.

Oggie Cooder
by Sarah Weeks
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
Quirky fourth grader Oggie Cooder has one major talent that could get him on television--and in a whole lot of trouble.

Ottoline and the Yellow Cat
written and ill. by Chris Riddell
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
A girl and curiously hairy Mr. Monroe solve the mystery of missing dogs and jewels and catch a thief. Whimsical illustrations.

Paddington Here and Now
by Michael Bond
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
In the fiftieth year since his creation, the adopted bear still delights with his hilarious antics.

Penina Levine Is a Potato Pancake
by Rebecca O'Connell
Illustrator: Majella Lue Sue
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
Many problems surface for Penina at Hannukkah: along with an annoying little sister, both a favorite teacher and her best friend are leaving.

Quest
by Kathleen Benner Duble
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
Deprivation at home and sea mark Henry Hudson's fateful voyage aboard the Discovery early in the seventeenth century.

Rex Zero
by Tim Wynne-Jones
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
His overactive imagination raises all sorts of problems for eleven-year-old Rex and his friends in Ottawa in 1962.

Safe at Home
by Mike Lupica
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
See: Long Shot

Sarah Simpson's Rules for Living
by Rebecca Rupp
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
Through her humorous and thoughtful lists and a class play, plucky Sara learns to accept her parents' divorce.

Secrets of the Cirque Medrano
by Elaine Scott
Ages: 9+
Published: 2008
A cafe in Montmartre, frequented by Picasso and his circle and performers in a nearby circus, becomes orphaned Brigitte's new home.