Front Desk (Scholastic Gold)
5.0
4
5
1
Paperback
USD
7.79
$7.79
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781338157826 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Scholastic, Inc. |
| Publication date: | 06/25/2019 |
| Pages: | 320 |
| Sales rank: | 1,489 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.20(w) x 7.50(h) x 1.00(d) |
| Age Range: | 8 - 12 Years |
About the Author
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Front Desk
5 out of 5
based on
0 ratings.
4 reviews.
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Mia is what an empathetic character looks like when the wounds are fresh.
At 10 years old, Mia Tang manages the front desk of the Calivista Motel, attends the 5th grade, and is a budding letter-writing activist and community organizer.
In desperate straits, the opportunity for Mia and her parents to move into the Calivista Motel and take over its management seems like an ideal situation. Rent will be covered and they’ll both have work. Like many of the Chinese immigrants we meet in Front Desk, the Tangs are going to be taken advantage of, and that Mia won’t be allowed to swim in the Motel pool after all is the least of their worrisome work/living conditions.
Mia doesn’t just contemplate what her appropriate response should be in the form of a lesson children, she acts. She uses her voice—and her most recently found language: writing. Mia isn’t fearless, she just exhibits “ordinary courage.” She writes letters that advocate, questioning the lines drawn. She contemplates which rule-bending risks are ethical let alone viable. She calls out her peers—and the adults in the room. It’s remarkable* how Mia disrupts, interrupts, and intervenes when the adults are speaking.
Front Desk shows how one roller coaster holds onto their humanity and finds their wealth in community. Any movement towards the better is made together. It isn’t a quaint message as a consolation prize, but a compelling and life-giving portraiture. I don’t know if the novel’s resolution is too optimistic, but it does not read false. People are looking to invest in good opportunities and opportunities for good.
If you are the kind of person who wants to invest in good opportunities and opportunities for good, add Kelly Yang’s Front Desk to someone’s library. In Front Desk, Yang has written for us the kind of content and character we need to read more often.
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Hands down, the best MG book I've read this year. Reading about the immigrant experience, poverty, and family through 10-year-old Mia Tang's perspective was eye-opening and heartwarming. Though my own family thankfully never saw such hardships when we immigrated to the U.S., Mia's story will certainly resonate with others who did and never lost (or still refusing to lose) hope in the possibility of a better future. Also, I loved Kelly Yang's effortless writing style and all the little subplots weaved into the greater plot. The Author's Note at the end left me teary. Simply amazing.
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I'll never look at a motel with the same eyes again. Author Kelly Yang brings us Mia Tang, a younger version of herself, who helped her parents manage a motel in southern California in the early 1990s.
Mia and her parents arrive from China with two hundred dollars, unwavering optimism, and the belief that if they work hard enough, they will achieve the American dream: a big house, a dog, and an endless supply of juicy hamburgers. After two years of backbreaking jobs and sketchy living conditions, Mia's parents rush to sign a contract to manage the Calista Motel located five miles from Disneyland.
Mr. Yao, the notoriously cheap and unscrupulous motel owner, informs the Tangs that the contract allows him to make any changes and if they don't like the terms, "Just say the word. There are ten thousand immigrants who would take your job in two seconds" (p. 27).
Mia quickly makes friends with the "weeklies" and assigns herself front desk duty because her parents must clean every room themselves and be available 24/7 to check in guests.
Mia's moxie and sense of justice emerge as she takes on adult responsibilities with a sense of pride and unbridled enthusiasm.
She makes plenty of mistakes which makes us empathize with her struggles and root for her as she tackles the english language, bullies, crime, and embarrassment about her thrift store clothes. (Keep your eyes open for the tale of the designer jeans.)
Chapters are vignettes that are strung along with seamless transitions to make reading a pure pleasure. The author captures Mia's voice so authentically that the reader is instantly drawn into the story. Mia's uses the power of the written word to advocate for herself and others.
Kids will fall in love with Mia and cheer her fierce determination as she navigates her way through poverty and injustice, bringing her family, the weeklies, and everyone else who want to be part of the American dream with her.
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I'll never look at a motel with the same eyes again. Author Kelly Yang brings us Mia Tang, a younger version of herself, who helped her parents manage a motel in southern California in the early 1990s.
Mia and her parents arrive from China with two hundred dollars, unwavering optimism, and the belief that if they work hard enough, they will achieve the American dream: a big house, a dog, and an endless supply of juicy hamburgers. After two years of backbreaking jobs and sketchy living conditions, Mia's parents rush to sign a contract to manage the Calista Motel located five miles from Disneyland.
Mr. Yao, the notoriously cheap and unscrupulous motel owner, informs the Tangs that the contract allows him to make any changes and if they don't like the terms, "Just say the word. There are ten thousand immigrants who would take your job in two seconds" (p. 27).
Mia quickly makes friends with the "weeklies" and assigns herself front desk duty because her parents must clean every room themselves and be available 24/7 to check in guests.
Mia's moxie and sense of justice emerge as she takes on adult responsibilities with a sense of pride and unbridled enthusiasm.
She makes plenty of mistakes which makes us empathize with her struggles and root for her as she tackles the english language, bullies, crime, and embarrassment about her thrift store clothes. (Keep your eyes open for the tale of the designer jeans.)
Chapters are vignettes that are strung along with seamless transitions to make reading a pure pleasure. The author captures Mia's voice so authentically that the reader is instantly drawn into the story. Mia's uses the power of the written word to advocate for herself and others.
Kids will fall in love with Mia and cheer her fierce determination as she navigates her way through poverty and injustice, bringing her family, the weeklies, and everyone else who want to be part of the American dream with her.
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