Front Desk by Kelly Yang
Published by Arthur A. Levine Books on May 29th 2018
ISBN: 1338157795
Pages: 298
Goodreads

A realistic fiction book for upper elementary/middle school readers that hooks you from the first line and takes you on a funny, sometimes uncomfortable and heart-wrenching, ride with 10-year-old Mia Tang. Mia is a fantastic character: brave, reliable, resilient, and quick on her feet. She has immigrated from China with her parents and was promised a better life than they had at home. But her parents are treated unkindly over and over and Mia is sure that they were sold a bad bill of goods. But does she give up? No, she looks for opportunities and for connections. Together, she and her parents run a Motel in Southern California owned by a Chinese man who believes that people are expendable and money is king, the opposite of the Tangs’ philosophy. Mia connects with the long-term tenants of the motel and she attempts to improve the experience of guests and to forge positive relationships with her classmates and teacher. The novel touches on immigration, racism, friendship, honesty, and family dynamics, and while Yang uses gimmicks like letters written to show how Mia’s English is improving and how she is effecting change in her community, and a big contest on which Mia pins all of her hopes, the story never ventures into didactic dross. Mia innately understands that we are stronger when we lift others up than when we knock them down and walk over them and Yang expertly weaves this message into many interactions between Mia and the other characters in the book. This would make a wonderful read-aloud and can go on any list of novels used to model empathy or offering windows into other lives and voices.

Reviewed by Jill O’Connor, Merrill Memorial Library, Yarmouth