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
Across the Desert
Dusti Bowling
Ages: 9+
Published: 2021
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
ISBN: 978-0-316-49474-8
Keywords: opioids, addiction, survival, friendship, substance use
Jolene is the only person who knows that a 12-year-old pilot has crashed in the desert. With a mother struggling with opioid addiction, Jolene tackles this life-or-death situation alone.