Front Desk

Recommendation for Age: 8 years and Above

10 year old Mia Tang is a Chinese Immigrant and the Manager at the Calivista Motel. At 10 years old, she has to welcome guests, take their ID's without telling them a 2nd time, and make them pay. It's not the best but definitely not the worst. She and her family get free rent but anything they break, they pay. That's the rule of cruel stone-hearted Mr. Yao, the motel owner. She starts 5th Grade and sure enough Jason Yao has to be in her class. Jason is Mr and Mrs Yao's son, who similarly is also mean. Find out how Mia juggles her life in between having a job, solving thefts, and getting friends jobs. Lupe short for Guadalupe, the daughter of the cableman and also an immigrant only from Mexico. "Lupe an I became inseparable." Mia says in the book. It also says, "Why do American's always ask kids to play all the time? In China, in 1st Grade, I only had 2 minutes to play everyday."