Kelly Yang
Front Desk #1
Winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature
Featured on Kirkus Reviews' Best Children's Books of 2018
Featured on Publishers Weekly's Best Children's Books of 2018
A New York Times bestseller
Mia Tang has a lot of secrets.
Number 1: She lives in a motel, not a big house. Every day, while her immigrant parents clean the rooms, ten-year-old Mia manages the front desk of the Calivista Motel and tends to its guests.
Number 2: Her parents hide immigrants. And if the mean motel owner, Mr. Yao, finds out they've been letting them stay in the empty rooms for free, the Tangs will be doomed.
Number 3: She wants to be a writer. But how can she when her mom thinks she should stick to math because English is not her first language?
It will take all of Mia's courage, kindness, and hard work to get through this year. Will she be able to hold on to her job, help the immigrants and guests, escape Mr. Yao, and go for her dreams?
Roxane Edouard manages the translation rights for Front Desk #1
Translation Rights Sold
An honest account of the ups and downs of immigrant life in America in the early 1990s, here told from a child's perspective. Basing the story on her own childhood experiences, Yang writes Mia's dreams into reality without sacrificing or minimizing the heartbreaking realities of many immigrants' hardships... powerful and heart-wrenching
Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books
Along the seemingly endless roller coaster of poverty, hope appears in small places... Yang weaves in autobiographical content while creating a feisty and empowered heroine. The supporting characters are rich in voice and context... achingly reveal[ing] life in America in the 1990s
Kirkus Reviews
Mia... is an irresistible protagonist
School Library Journal
It's the details that sing in this novel, particularly the small moments that feel like everything when you're a kid…This book will help foster empathy for the immigrant experience for young readers, while for immigrant children, it is a much-needed and validating mirror….Deserving of shelf space in every classroom and library.
