“Front Desk” is the first book of the Front Desk series. Mia Tang and her parents immigrated from China and had to deal with a lot of trouble when they first arrived. Her parents found a job at a restaurant, but got fired from that job. One day on the newspaper, Mia’s mom saw a motel looking for a job for Chinese immigrants. Along with the job, it came with a free room to sleep in, and free food. The motel was called the Calivista Motel. The owner of the motel, Mr. Yao, had a son named Jason Yao. Mr. Yao was not the nicest person. He tricked Mia’s parents by creating a loophole in the hiring agreement. Mia would sit at the front desk and check in customers, while her parents cleaned the rooms. Because Mia’s parents have a job, Mia was able to go to school. School wasn’t the best, because of Jason Yao and his friends. They would bully and torment Mia. However, Mia met some nice people such as Mrs. Douglas, her 5th grade teacher, and Lupe, Mia’s best friend, who was from Mexico. Mia’s parents would hide Chinese immigrants at the motel. Mia’s dream was to be a writer, but her mom wanted her to work on math. She didn’t like the idea of Mia being a writer because Mia wasn’t from America, so she’s not the best at English. In this book, Mia finds her path in writing and begins to understand the true meaning of “Never give up on your dreams.”
I think that this book is for people that like heartwarming autobiographies. I like that the book is based on a real person and events that happened to her. Another thing I like is that Mia didn’t give up on her dreams to be an author. When Mia described how it felt leaving China, I could relate to her experience. When I departed from China, I could relate to her sadness as she left her homeland. I was also depressed that I had to leave my homeland. The thought that I could only see my cousins during a summer vacation made me feel heartbroken. Also, I made a connection with this book to a quote that I remembered. “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” The book helped me understand that not everything goes the way you want it to, and sometimes you have to face your problems and fears. For example, I have a fear of the dark. One day, I had to walk through a dark alley to get to a store I really wanted to go to. My mom insisted that I should go ahead to the store, but to do that, I’d have to get past the dark alley. In the end, I managed to make a run for it. Thankfully, I made it across and realized that overcoming your fears is a great learning experience, a part of life. An important lesson I learned from this book is to never give up on your dreams. I rate this book 4.5 out of five stars.
Reviewed by Maggie S. Grade 6