Award-Winning Author Stacey Lee will visit MHS on Thursday, 5/21/26
Thanks to a generous grant from the Milpitas Community Education Foundation (MCEF), the MHS Library is pleased to host award-winning author Stacey Lee on Thursday, May 21st, 2026. This is another incredible opportunity for our school community to engage with such a talented local author and dynamic storyteller!
Stacey Lee has written numerous books including her latest, Heiress of Nowhere, which has already received two prestigious starred reviews, and The Downstairs Girl, a Reese’s Book Club selection. Her new page-turning historical fiction mystery is set in 1918 on Orcas Island, Washington, where an orphan becomes the prime suspect of the murder of a wealthy shipbuilder once she is named the heiress of his vast estate. Lee skillfully weaves in research to shed light on what life may have been like for those left out of the dominant historical narrative. Any student that checks out one of her books and reads it will earn a prize from the MHS Library!
Stacey Lee shared in an interview with School Library Journal for their series “Teaching America at 250”:
"I’m interested in the tension between national myth and lived reality, particularly for people who were present but excluded from the official narrative. Historical fiction gives me a way to explore how those parallel experiences shaped the country we know today."
"Historical fiction allows me to imagine interior lives—the fears, hopes, and small daily decisions that rarely survive in the historical record. Nonfiction can tell us what happened; fiction lets us explore how it felt."
Multiple clubs and interested readers are invited to a special luncheon In the Library. Teachers are signing up to attend an assembly during period 5.
Then Stacey Lee will be available for a meet-and-greet during period 6 in the Library to sign books, take photos, and engage in conversation. Students may sign-up here or see Ms. Gittlen to get a pass.
Copies of many of her books may be pre-ordered or purchased in the Library the day of the event from a local independent bookseller. Stacey Lee will sign and personalize her books during period 6.
If you would like more information about this special event, please reach out to me at mgittlen@musd.org or visit me in the Library.
Also, please consider becoming a Friend of the MHS Library to support programs such as this! Help us reach our goal of raising $3,000 (or $1 per student) this year. Your support makes all the difference!
Happy reading!
Mia Gittlen
MHS Librarian
[Saturday, May 16 at 11:38 AM]
Please be reminded that our next author visit is coming up on Thursday, May 21st.
Stacey Lee is an award-winning, best-selling young adult author most notable for her historical fiction mysteries.
You may pre-order a book that Stacey Lee will sign and personalize. She will also be giving away book sleeves she's handmade! Be sure to place your order by the end of the day on Monday: www.lindentreebooks.com/stacey
You may also check-out any of her books from the MHS Library. If you do so this week, you'll earn a prize!
Schedule for Thursday, May 21st:
Lunch - in Library with invited CLOGs and interested readers
Period 5 - assembly in the Old Theater (D building)
Period 6 - meet and greet in Library (including book signing). Sign-up: https://forms.gle/NVw6ZRMsi1gyhJMm8
Please reach out to mgittlen@musd.org with any questions.