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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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.