Children’s Book Committee
The Children’s Book Committee (CBC) was founded more than 100 years ago to help parents, teachers, and librarians choose the books that children will find captivating and transforming. Every year it produces comprehensive annotated book lists for children aged infant through 18.
Our Mission
The CBC reviews over 6000 titles each year for accuracy and literary quality and considers their emotional impact on children. It chooses the best 600 books, both fiction and nonfiction, which it lists with annotations according to age and category.
The Children’s Book Committee strives to guide librarians, educators, parents, grandparents, and other interested adults to the best books for children published each year. The list includes more than 600 titles chosen by reviewers for literary quality and excellence of presentation as well as the potential emotional impact of the books on young readers. Other criteria include credibility of characterization and plot, authenticity of time and place, age suitability, positive treatment of ethnic and religious differences, and the absence of stereotypes.
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Children's Book Committee July Pick
When his beloved older brother suffers a brain injury in a car accident, Isaiah (Ice) defies dire predictions and devises ways to help him recover. Back matter.
Our Young Reviewer Says:
“I liked the inspiration in this book. I found the story to be somewhat relatable, and something that could happen in real life. Although it would be a rare occurrence, the author made you feel like it was truly happening to you.
The book was told through the main characters point of view, who was the younger brother of Seth, who suffered the traumatic brain injury. Although he was 18 and successful, the doctors told the family he had coherency of a seven-month-old baby. Isaiah, the main character was also going through his own struggles, crippling social anxiety. The author brought us through what it is like to live with this horrible anxiety, but also growing, and changing, because all of the sudden Isaiah, the younger brother had to deal with becoming the older brother, taking a lot of responsibility. The author did a wonderful job of expressing the pain, and success the family felt, and dealt with, during this horrendous time.”
–Luci, age 14, San Rafael, CA.