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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Jazz Owls

by Margarita Engle

Illustrator: Rudy Gutierrez

Ages: 12+

Published: 2018

Publisher: Atheneum BFYR/ Simon & Schuster

ISBN: 978-1-5344-0943-9

Keywords: Race relations, World War II, Dancing, Violence, Segregation, Conflicting viewpoints

In 1943, sailors stationed in Los Angeles attacked local Mexican American dancers in what was later known as the Zoot Suit Riots. Free verse by multiple narrators. Swirling, animated black-and-white illustrations introduce sections. Back matter.