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June 2024 Selections

Preschool

A child and the child's grandmother blowing message bubbles to each otherSee You Someday Soon

by Pat Zietlow Miller, illustrations by Suzy Lee

Someday soon, I'll see you.
Even though you are there.
And I am here.
So very far apart.

In this heartfelt picture book, a child imagines ways to connect with a grandmother who lives far away. Whether by rocket ship or jet pack, train or plane, any journey is worth it to see someone you love.

 

Greenlight, the light on the bottom of a traffic light, smiling at usGreenlight

by Breana Carzoo

Meet Greenlight! Greenlight has an important job to do, but every time it's her turn to shine . . . everyone drives away!

The cars stop for Redlight and slow for Yellowlight, so why do they leave Greenlight all alone?

When Greenlight decides to stop shining altogether, will she be able to find the power and connection of her own light?

 


Primary (Kindergarten–Grade 2)

Two boys on a street in a neighborhood, the older brother putting his arm around the younger brother All Good in the Hood

by Dwayne Reed, illustrations by Gladys Jose

Today is June 19th — Juneteenth is what they say — and for my family, it's a very special day. But sometimes the hood feels scary when we're walking around. I wish I could stay home where it's safe and sound. Where the dogs aren't BARKING, and the cars aren't HONKING, and the streetlights aren't FLICKERING. 

But when Big Bro tells me it will all be okay, I know the noises can't hurt me and ruin my day.

 

A young girl looking outside from an apartment windowThe Cot in the Living Room/La camita de la sala

by Hilda Eunice Burgos, illustrations by Gaby D'Alessandro

Night after night, a young girl watches her mami set up a cot in the living room of their Washington Heights apartment for guests like Raquel (who is boring) and Edgardo (who gets crumbs everywhere). She resents that they get the entire living room with a view of the George Washington Bridge while all she gets is a tiny bedroom with a view of her sister (who snores) . . . until one night when no one comes, and it's finally her chance! But as it turns out, sleeping on the cot in the living room isn't all she thought it would be.

 


Intermediate (Grades 3–5)

A tall young man named Gravity, holding a basketballThe Legend of Gravity: A Tall Basketball Tale

by Charly Palmer

Gravity is the new kid on the Hillside Projects basketball team, the Eagles. He once jumped so high that his teammates went out for ice cream before he came back down. With Gravity on their side, the Eagles feel unstoppable. They are ready to win "The Best of the Best," Milwaukee's biggest and baddest pick-up basketball tournament. But when they face off in the final round with the Flyers, the winningest team in the whole city,  they realize that it may take a little more than Gravity to bring them to victory.

 

Two lunch trays, one holding a hamburger and fries and one holding rice pilaf and butter chickenSave Me a Seat

by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan

Joe and Ravi might be from very different places, but they are both stuck in the same place: school. Joe has lived in the same town all his life and was doing fine until his best friends moved away and left him on his own. Ravi's family just moved to America from India, and he's finding it pretty hard to figure out where he fits in. Joe and Ravi don't think they have anything in common — but soon enough, they have a common enemy (the biggest bully in their class) and a common mission: to take control of their lives over the course of a single crazy week.

 


Middle School (Grades 6–8)

Huda, looking indifferent, with her annoying sisters making faces behind her at Disney WorldHuda F Cares?

by Huda Fahmy

Huda and her sisters can't believe it when their parents announce that they are actually taking a vacation this summer . . . to DISNEY WORLD! But it's not quite so perfect as it seems. First, Huda has to survive a 24-hour road trip, with her sisters annoying her all the way. And then she can't help but notice the people staring at her and her family when they pray in public. Back home in Dearborn, she and her family blend right in because there are so many other Muslim families, but they don't blend in so much in Florida and along the way. It's a vacation of forced sisterly bonding, a complicated new friendship, a bit more independence, and some mixed feelings about her family's public prayers. Huda is proud of her religion and who she is, but she still sure wishes that she didn't care so much about what other people think.

 

Tía Lola, giving marshmallows to Miguel, his sister, and the three visiting girls to toast over the campfireHow Tía Lola Saved the Summer

by Julia Alvarez

Miguel Guzman isn't exactly looking forward to the summer now that his mother has agreed to let the Sword family — a father, his three daughters, and their dog — live with them while they decide whether to move to Vermont. Little does Miguel know that his aunt has something up her sleeve that just may make this the best summer ever!

 


High School (Grades 9–12)

Marigold, looking uneasy, in front of a newly renovated but definitely haunted houseWhite Smoke

by Tiffany D. Jackson

Marigold's move with her newly blended family might be the fresh start that she needs. The renovated, picture-perfect home on Maple Street, sitting between dilapidated houses, surrounded by wary neighbors, has its . . . secrets. That's only half the problem: household items vanish, doors open on their own, lights turn off, shadows walk past rooms, voices can be heard in the walls, and there's a foul smell seeping through the vents that only Mari seems to notice. Even worse, her bratty ten-year-old stepsister, Piper, keeps talking about a friend who wants Mari gone. But "running from ghosts" is just a metaphor, right?

 

The book, title Bird of Paradise, and author's name, Raquel Cepeda, in rainbow colorsBird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

by Raquel Cepeda

Raquel Cepeda digs into her family history for a better understanding of who she is as a Latina born in Harlem to Dominican parents. As a baby, Cepeda was sent to live with her grandparents in Santo Domingo. By the time she returned to the U.S., her parents had separated and lived on opposite coasts, making life even more complicated. Rejected by her mother, fighting vicious battles with her father, she immersed herself in the hip-hop culture of Uptown Manhattan in the '80s and constructed her own identity. She began her genealogical journey years later, after she had become a successful journalist and documentary filmmaker. In her memoir, Cepeda explores the concepts of race, identity, and ancestral DNA among Latinos using her own Dominican-American story as one example.
 


Books in Spanish

Two children playing, one on roller skates, and the other wearing a judo jacketNenaza y chicazo (para edades de 4 a 7 años)

de Pilar Serrano Burgos, ilustraciones por Ana Gómez Hernández

Por que me gusta hacer cosas de niños me llaman chicazo. Por que me gusta hacer cosas de niñas me llaman nenaza. En casa jugamos a lo que nos apetece. Y hemos aprendido a qué nos da igual lo que digan los demás.

 


To access the books on our monthly MPS Reads book lists, visit your school library or local library, or go online to Sora* (formerly OverDrive) and log in with your MPS student ID number.

*Some titles are not available through Sora.

To access the books on our monthly MPS Reads book lists, visit your school library or local library, or go online to Sora* (formerly OverDrive) and log in with your MPS student ID number.

*Some titles are not available through Sora.

Suggest a book

If you would like to recommend a book title, please fill out this form: https://goo.gl/forms/kY7iv9ixf1d6ViaX2

Contact

Reading Curriculum Specialist:

Tanya D. Evans, Ph.D.
Phone: 414-475-8110
Email: evanstd@milwaukee.k12.wi.us

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