3. Front Desk by Kelly Yang
3. Front Desk by Kelly Yang
Yang, K. (2018). Front desk. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic Inc.
This is a
story about 10-year-old Mia Tang. She
and her parents immigrated from China, and America is nothing like she
thought. She dreamed of living in a nice
house with a dog and eat hamburgers all the time. Instead, they end up managing
a motel in Anaheim, California. The owner is Mr. Yao, and he is unfair to the
Tangs, giving them a hard time about everything. Through the story, Mia works hard to get them
“off the rollercoaster”, by entering an essay contest to win a motel in
Vermont. Her life does change, not by
winning an essay contest, but by being a kind and fair person to everyone she
meets. She comes face to face with prejudice,
violence, and bullying, but she overcomes these with a positive attitude.
This story
is filled with conflict, both internal and external. Mia is in conflict with herself. Her and her parents are treated unfairly by
their employers, and society in general.
They are expected to be quite and do what they are told. Mia will have none of that. She stands up for
what is believes is right. Mia is also
in conflict with her mother. Mia’s
mother is good at math and pushes Mia to concentrate on improving her math skills. Mia wants to write. Instead of encouraging Mia, her mother discourages
her all through the story telling her she will never be good at English.
This would
be an excellent book to use in the classroom. It has many themes such as empathy, racism, courage,
discrimination, and tolerance. It has conflict
running all through the story. I found
this link that has good teaching resources.
It includes a classroom discussion guide, writing prompts, games,
activities and videos.
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