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

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender

by Leslye Walton

Ages: 14+

Published: 2014

Publisher: Candlewick Press

ISBN: 978-0-7636-6566-1

Keywords: Coming of age, Magical realism

Born with a pair of speckled wings, Ava journeys through her family's history to discover who she is and where she came from.