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

Empty and Me: A Tale of Friendship and Loss

Azam Mahdavi

Illustrator: Maryam Tahmasebi

Ages: 6+

Published: 2023

Publisher: Lee & Low Books

ISBN: 978-1-64379-622-2

Keywords: Death, grieving, friendship, SEL, father-daughter relationship, Iran, Persian-English, bilingual

Until she is ready to rejoin the world, a young girl whose mother has died is accompanied through her grief by a translucent creature. Mood-matching digital art in a muted palette. Bilingual in Persian and English.