Every year the Bank Street College of Education Book Committee reviews over 6000 titles. They put 600 of those books into their Best Children’s Books of the Year publication. The Bank Street College of Education recently put out a list of their Outstanding Books for the years 1997 to 2008 on their website. Each of the books on this list received a star for outstanding merit when it first appeared in the collection of the Best Children’s Books for the Year.
When I scrolled through the list, I recognized an extremely high number of titles. The short descriptions of the book would definitely give readers an idea of whether it could make a good title to recommend to a reader. Naturally, I was extremely pleased to find my soccer novel, DEFENDING IRENE, listed in the 9 and up category down in the sports category with the following description:
Irene, a visitor from the United States, tries to single-handedly integrate an all-boys Italian soccer team.
Kristin Wolden Nitz 
Kristin,
I’ll have to check this list out, but until I get to it Congratulations for making it with your own novel!
–SueBE
It was pretty cool to see, especially since the committee only picked a couple of sports novels to highlight for this time period.