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 Door by the Staircase

by Katherine Marsh

Illustrator: Kelly Murphy

Ages: 9+

Published: 2016

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion Books

ISBN: 978-1-4231-3499-2

Keywords: Magic, Russian folklore, Adoption

Twelve-year-old Mary leaves a dreadful orphanage for a new home, but her mysterious adoptive mother turns out to have terrifying magical powers. Detailed black-and-white ink wash illustrations.