Each Friday I share the link to a read-aloud preview of a book from SRCSA library. The “First-chapter Friday” selection for March 3, 2023 is Maizy Chen’s Last Chance, by Lisa Yee.
Maizy has never been to Last Chance, Minnesota . . . until now. Her mom’s plan is just to stay for a couple weeks, until her grandfather gets better. But plans change, and as Maizy spends more time in Last Chance and at the Golden Palace — the restaurant that’s been in her family for generations — she makes some discoveries. For instance: You can tell a LOT about someone by the way they order food. People can surprise you. Sometimes in good ways, sometimes in disappointing ways. And the Golden Palace has secrets… But the more Maizy discovers, the more questions she has. Like, why are her mom and her grandmother always fighting? Who are the people in the photographs on the office wall? And when she discovers that a beloved family treasure has gone missing — and someone has left a racist note — Maizy decides it’s time to find the answers. Maizy Chen’s Last Chance was the winner, in 2023, of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature and an Honor Book for the John Newbery Medal. Both awards are presented by the American Library Association. Maizy Chen’s Last Chance was also a finalist for the 2022 National Book Award in the “Young People’s Literature” category, presented by the National Book Foundation.