Each Friday I share the link to a read-aloud preview of a book from our school library, with the SRCSA community. The “First-chapter Friday” selection for April 8, 2022, is Front Desk by Kelly Yang.
Mia Tang has a lot of secrets. Number 1: She lives in a motel, not a big house. Every day, while her immigrant parents clean the rooms, 10-year-old Mia manages the front desk of the Calivista Motel and tends to its guests. Number 2: Her parents hide immigrants. And if the mean motel owner, Mr. Yao, finds out they’ve been letting them stay in the empty rooms for free, the Tangs will be doomed. Number 3: Mia wants to be a writer. But how can she when her mom thinks she should stick to math because English is not her first language? It will take all of Mia’s courage, kindness, and hard work to get through this year. Will she be able to hold on to her job, help the immigrants and guests, escape Mr. Yao, and go for her dreams? Front Desk, by Kelly Yang, was the 2019 winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Children’s Literature, which honors and recognizes individual work about Asian/Pacific Americans and their heritage, based on literary and artistic merit.
https://youtu.be/yLp1mwOlgrQ