Front Desk

What if you didn't speak English?

Kelly Yang, the author had as a young Chinese American helped her immigrant parents run a motel. Front Desk is based on her many real-life experiences. Mia, the central character,  is funny, charming, smart, and hardworking. She is also the interpreter for her parents to navigate their way in America. The compassion the parents show for new immigrants in allowing them to stay for free in the motel they run, gets them in trouble with their miserly landlord. Resilience is an underlying current as Mia always seems to make a way when there appears to be none.