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
Freedom on the Sea: The True Story of the Civil War Hero Robert Smalls and His Daring Escape to Freedom
Michael Boulware Moore
Illustrator: Bryan Collier
Ages: 6+
Published: 2024
Publisher: Godwin Books/Henry Holt/Macmillan
ISBN: 978-1-250-81835-5
Keywords: Biography/Memoir-Slavery, confederacy, escape
An enslaved seaman commandeered a Confederate ship, liberating himself, the rest of the crew, and their families. Striking paint and collage illustrations.