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
Free Lunch
by Rex Ogle
Ages: 12+
Published: 2019
Publisher: Norton Young Readers/W. W. Norton & Co.
ISBN: 978-1-324-00360-1
Keywords: Diversity, Hunger, Dysfunctional Families, Violence, Abuse, Poverty
Living in poverty with abusive parents, sixth-grader Rex struggles to maintain his dignity while accepting free lunch in school and resolves to develop his talents as a writer.