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 Benefits of Being an Octopus

by Ann Braden

Ages: 9+

Published: 2018

Publisher: Sky Pony Press

ISBN: 978-1-5107-3748-8

Keywords: Abuse, Poverty

When a teacher invites her to join the debate club, seventh-grader Zoey begins to see things differently. Can she convince her mother to leave her abusive boyfriend?