Front Desk

"Such a cute book for younger kids and talks about real world issues. I absolutely loved it."

"Good book!"

"Good book though if your in her position it’s unrealistic pretty much but I loved it cause it had a happy ending"

"Uplifting story for middle readers about pursuing your dreams and accepting others."

"Every time I set this book down to go do something else, it magically reappeared in my hand, so you see I had to sit down and read it all in one go.<br/><br/>Mia Tang and her parents moved to America for a better life, only to end up stuck with the short end of the stick. In the search for a new job, they become the managers of a small motel owned by Mr. Yao with the promise of $150 a day and free rent. (That’s about $259 in 2018 money. We’re in the 90s right now.)<br/><br/>Oh, wait. Mr. Yao is a greedy jerk who squeezes people for every penny he can get. And he abruptly changes the terms of the contract to essentially “free rent plus whatever I feel like paying you”. Did I mention his son Jason is going to the same school that Mia will attend? Yeah, his son’s not that much better.<br/><br/>So far, this whole “America” thing is turning out to be a big disappointment for Mia. She lies to impress her new friend, Lupe, but it turns out Lupe’s family is in a similar situation. (But hey, new best friend! :D)<br/><br/>Mia is determined to help her family get out of this hole. When she learns of an essay contest to win a motel in Vermont, she plans to enter it. But where will she get the money for the entry fee? She’d ask her parents, but her mother thinks she should stick to math because Mia’s English isn’t as good as a native speaker’s.<br/><br/>And on top of all this, Mia’s family has begun hiding immigrants who need a place to stay for a day or two.<br/><br/>I absolutely loved this book. It has plenty of lighthearted moments balanced against the harsh realities of being an immigrant in America. We see Mia staring down customers until they accept that she’s the one running the front desk, and Mia and her dad washing towels in the bathtub. A cranky guest straightens up once he realizes he’s yelling at a 10-year old. <br/><br/>On the darker side of things, a guest’s car is stolen and Mr. Yao immediately suspects every black person at the hotel, even going to far as to have the police question Hank (one of the regulars) and getting him fired. The immigrants who stay with them have stories to tell about racism and loan sharks and getting their passports stolen by unscrupulous employers, forcing them to work in slave-like conditions. It’s a very eye-opening look at what actual immigrants have to deal with in order to come to this country.<br/><br/>Mia fights back in her own way- through writing. With nothing but her own determination and a borrowed thesaurus, she writes letters to customers, employers, and other businesses. She will stand up for what’s right.<br/><br/>I want a copy of this for our school’s library. I think a lot of my students can relate to Mia, whether they’re immigrants themselves or whether their families are just stuck in the poverty cycle. (and sadly, we do have a lot of kids stuck in that cycle) Even the kids who aren’t would benefit from reading this, as it can give them an idea of what their peers might be going through, and encourage them to be more understanding."

"This book got me thinking for sure. (Also please know I'm obviously not a professional book writer or anything I just want to give my opinion) So as someone who grew up as a privileged white kid I had never experienced what Mia did. I didn't expect there to be such heavy topics from the cover but I thought it would be a fun light read. I thought it gave a good insight on how it felt to be in Mia's situation. I would get stressed everytime she got stressed. And I would highly recommend this book for everyone!!! I hope you'll enjoy this book as much as I did. The front desk gave me so many emotions. I felt mad at Mr. Yao for how he treated Mia and her family, especially the pool thing!!! Like he's really that dirt cheap that he won't let them swim in the dang pool. If I was Mia I would've just jumped in anyways. But anyways it's such a good and I highly recommend!"

"4.5/5 stars"

"This was my second read of Front Desk. I absolutely love this book! The first time I read it quickly on my own, needing to speed read to meet a library due date. The second time, I listened to the audio book with my 11-year-old. He loved it so much! He would beg us to stay in the car a little longer to listen, or to listen longer at home. He was tense with anticipation and overjoyed (Oh, no! Oh, no! Yes! Yes! Yes!) during various parts. You can tell a book is good by how involved the kids are listening to or reading it.<br/><br/>I liked that Front Desk tackled some hard issues. Mostly it focused on the immigrant plight in America, and the unfairness with which many are treated (not just immigrants, but others as well). People are taken advantage of in the workplace, there is blatant racism, poverty, and more, all seen through the eyes of a 5th grader. Author Kelly Yang based many parts of the novel off real experiences she had or knew of while growing up in a Chinese immigrant family, working as motel managers.<br/><br/>One aspect that I liked a lot because it was great for discussion was that there were times in the novel when a character would do something that is technically morally wrong, yet it is being done for the greater good, such as a falsified letter of reference written to help a man get a new job after being wrongfully fired from his old job. There are other such instances in the novel and it was a good way to talk about society's rules and laws and what's appropriate to do in certain situations. I liked that the characters weren't perfect, none of them, and that there was character growth in the novel. There were characters who acted out of compassion although they broke rules, and others who were motivated by hate and greed. We were able to talk about what makes a person "good" vs. what makes a person "bad." We talked about actions and motives and society's constructs (race, class standing, etc.). This is a really good book to discuss moral dilemmas with children."

"It was an emotion jerker near the end :( no spoilers but ughh😭😭☹️☹️🙁"

"This book was quite enjoyable! It was a very quick read. I’m not sure what reading level this is. But it is told from the perspective of a 5th grade girl whose family migrates over from China in the 90’s. It gives a real view of what life was like moving to America as immigrants and the struggles that came with it. I loved hearing the stories from perspective. And it’s all based on true stories from the author. Reading this book did motivate me to want to treat everyone with kindness and compassion. Everyone is fighting to make their own way in this world."