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
Robert Smalls (Tales of the Talented Tenth series)
Joel Christian Gill
Illustrator: Joel Christian Gill
Ages: 12+
Published: 2021
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
ISBN: 978-1-68275-066-7
Keywords: Civil War, Reconstruction
In 1862 an enslaved African American man, who was an experienced sailor and expert navigator, smuggled 13 compatriots to freedom by commandeering a Confederate supply ship. Evocative period illustrations.