Front Desk: A Book Review

Imagine having to travel across the world to a new place and call it “Home”. This new country, where you have to adjust to a new lifestyle and learn a new language. Your life has to start all over again. People will make fun of you for things that you don’t know. You may feel trapped in the situation as you may not have many options as an immigrant. Well, if you are looking for a book that talks about the challenges of immigrants, I have a great book for you all. Front Desk is written by Kelly Yang, based on some of her childhood experiences. This book recently received the Rebecca Caudill award a few weeks ago!

The Front Desk is about a ten-year-old, Chinese girl named Mia and her family’s struggle as an immigrant in the United States. Her parents have to work in a motel and have a mean boss named Mr. Yao. Mia is assigned to the front desk of the motel, where she has many adventures. When Mia goes to school, things get harder as Mr. Yao’s son, Jason Yao is in Mia’s class and troubles her. That badly affects Mia. With a strict boss, Mr. Yao getting on Mia’s family’s nerves, Mia finds support in her best friend Lupe and the motel guard Hank. Mia wants to be a writer, but her mother forces her to focus on math and science as her mother doubts her ability. Her mother would say, “You’re just a bike in English, but the other kids are cars”. She meant that Mia cannot be perfect in English as it is not her first language, and secondly, Mia’s mother wants Mia to stay to her roots. Besides, financial problems in the family, Mia also experiences challenges of being an immigrant and witnesses racial prejudice faced by people of color. For instance, her mother gets badly assaulted by a group of gangsters that leave her mother with injuries requiring hospitalization. As a responsible daughter, Mia uses all the money she had saved for her essay contest for the hospital bills. Hank, an African American man who worked in that motel and was close to Mia, gets accused of something that he had not done just because he was black. Do you think that Mia’s family will have enough money to have their own place to live? Will they get to live their American dream? Will Mia be able to participate in the essay contest? To learn more about Mia and her journey in America, please read the Front Desk. 

What I really liked about this book? My first reason is the many themes in the book. The book discusses family, friendship, teamwork, kindness, immigration, poverty, and racism. They especially talked about the struggles of immigration often. It encounters issues such as racist attacks and being treated differently. For example, Mia’s uncle, Uncle Zhang would be badly treated. He would have to work every day for 12 hours and sleep in his manager’s basement along with the others. Luckily he escaped to save himself. I would not want to spoil the end, but Mia had helped many others as a kind, loyal, generous, and smart person as she gave her mother her money she said for her essay competition when her mother did not have enough money to fix her concussion after getting into an accident. I was very influenced by Mia’s character as I found her very responsible and mature for her age. Lastly, as my family members are also immigrants, I could identify with the plot and characters of the story. Above all, short chapters and easy language make the book fun to read.

I would rate this book 4.5 stars as the plot was very interesting and heartwarming. I would recommend this book to ages 10 and up.