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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Jax Freeman and the Phantom Shriek

Kwame Mbalia

Ages: 9+

Published: 2024

Publisher: Freedom Fire/Disney•Hyperion

ISBN: 978-1-368-06473-6

Keywords: Fantasy-magic-school, Black traditional lore, ancestors, Pullman porters, friendship, family, school, community

From the moment he arrives in Chicago, strange things keep happening to Jax, a 12-year-old Black boy. How is he connected to the five magical summoning families and what powers does he have?