MYSTERY READERS RECOMMENDED BOOKS
READ ACROSS AMERICA: CELEBRATING A NATION OF DIVERSE READERS
Find out what's happening in our libraries in the DeISD Library Program Newsletter
BECOME A MYSTERY READER FOR READ ACROSS AMERICA
School celebrations and traditions may have changed but the importance of keeping readers motivated has not. Books and stories are tools children need now more than ever to discover themselves and understand that the world is far richer and diverse than just their experiences alone. As a friend of the library, your contribution will lighten the day and hopefully encourage our students to continue reading. Please help us send the message that reading matters, that it is important, and that it’s fun! You may either share a book recommendation or create a read-aloud of a short children’s book.
First, select any short children’s book, any middle school or young adult book that you would like to recommend. If you've read a chapter book, share a portion of your chapter book or provide a summary and your review of the book.
Second, record your reading, summary, or review.
Third, submit your video as an MP4 or MOV to one of our librarians Mrs. Diane Gill or Mrs. Diana Frazier.
Fourth, look for your submission and those of other mystery readers in the DeISD Virtual Libraries. Read Across America Mystery Reader Room
NOT SURE WHAT TO READ? TAKE A LOOK BELOW!
ELEMENTARY
A New Kind of Wild by Zara Gonzalez Hoang
Just Ask! Be Different, Be Brave, Be You by Sonia Sotomayor
Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard
We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom
A young girl learns from her Nokomis (grandmother) about protecting our shared planet and invites all to become stewards of Earth.
The Colors of Us
A positive and affirming look at skin color, from an artist's perspective. Seven-year-old Lena is going to paint a picture of herself. She wants to use brown paint for her skin. But when she and her mother take a walk through the neighborhood, Lena learns that brown comes in many different shades.
Your Name is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow
Frustrated that no one can pronounce her name, a young girl learns about the musicality of all names and teaches others at her school to sing—and say—her name correctly.
Speak Up by Miranda Paul
On a busy school day, a diverse group of kids discover positive ways to make their many voices heard.
Tiara’s Hat Parade by Kelly Starling Lyons
When a new store opens that sells cheaper hats, Tiara—and the community she rallies—help revive her mother’s hat-making business.
Magic Ramen: The Story of Momofuku Ando by Andrea Wang
Following World War II, Momofuku Ando struggles to perfect his recipe for a noodle soup that is delicious, inexpensive, and a quick way to feed the hungry.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Not Your All-American Girl by Wendy Wan-Long Shang and Madelyn Rosenberg
When her best friend Tara gets the lead in the school musical because their teacher doesn’t think half-Jewish, half-Chinese Lauren looks the part of the all-American girl, Lauren finds a way to have her voice heard.
Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish by Pablo Cartaya
Marcus is the biggest kid in eighth grade. He’s six feet tall, weighs 180 pounds, and has a mustache. Due to his mature appearance, he’s often perceived as a bully. Marcus is trying to cope with many personal issues, including the fact that his dad left him and his family when he was a little boy.
When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller
Lily takes on a quest from the tiger from her grandmother’s Korean folktales in the hopes it will heal her sick grandmother.
The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman
When Viji runs away with her sister Rukku, who has a developmental disability, they find shelter on an abandoned bridge in Chennai; work scavenging the city's trash heaps; and form a family of sorts with Muthi and Arul, two boys who are homeless.
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia
Tristan, in mourning for his best friend Eddie, attempts to recover Eddie’s story journal and finds himself on a mission to save a world populated with people he knows from stories—African American folk heroes and West African gods.
Each Tiny Spark by Pablo Cartaya
Emilia, who has ADHD, is trying to focus on rebuilding her relationship with her father, who is back from his deployment and avoiding her overbearing grandmother. At the same time, she’s deciding how to handle the injustice and prejudice she discovers in her Atlanta suburb while working on her school project about the town’s history.
From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks
Zoe has never met her incarcerated father, so when she gets a letter from him on her twelfth birthday, she secretly writes back and begins a quest to discover if he was, as he says, wrongly convicted.
Roll With It by Jamie Sumner
When 12-year-old Ellie and her mom move so they can help take care of her grandfather, Ellie is not just the new kid in town—she’s the new kid in the wheelchair who is one of the excluded “trailer park kids”—until she starts to make her first-ever friends.
I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day
When 12-year-old Edie wants to connect to her Native American heritage, she learns that her parents have kept much of her family history secret.
HIGH SCHOOL/YOUNG ADULT
Frankly in Love by David Yoon
Frank’s parents insist that he only date Koreans, so when he falls for Brit, who is white, he teams up with Joy so they can pretend to date each other in order to have the freedom to spend time to date who they like.
Toning the Sweep by Angela Johnson
Angela Johnson's Coretta Scott King Award-winning novel traces three generations of African American women as they learn one another's truths.
The Everything I Have Lost by Sylvia Zéleny
In her diary about her life growing up in Juarez, Mexico, Julia keeps lists of those things that she loses, which eventually include her father and her home when Julia and her brother are sent to live with her aunt.
Fresh Ink: An Anthology by Lamar Giles (editor)
This collection by diverse authors about diverse characters includes 10 short stories, a graphic novel, and a one-act play from Walter Dean Myers.
I Love you So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn
When Kimi visits her grandparents in Japan, she is relieved to escape her problems back home. But soon the trip becomes a way for Kimi to learn more about the mother she left behind, and to figure out where her own heart lies.
Becoming Beatriz by Tami Charles
Fifteen-year-old Beatriz aspired to be a professional dancer, but when her brother was killed by a rival gang, she stopped dancing—until new-kid Nasser invites her to compete with him in a dance tournament and tempts her away from gang life, back to music and her passion.
Noah: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
Trevor Noah recalls his childhood in South Africa and shares stories of his parents' illegal interracial relationship, apartheid, bullying, and poverty as well as dating, dancing, and daring entrepreneurship.
If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric Gansworth
Lewis "Shoe" Blake is used to the joys and difficulties of life on the Tuscarora Indian reservation. What he's not used to is white people being nice to him—people like George Haddonfield.
Butterfly Yellow by Thanhha Lai Hằng
A refugee from Việt Nam who has traveled to Texas to find her little brother who was taken from her years ago, is helped by LeeRoy, a city boy with big rodeo dreams.