Recent immigrants from China and desperate for work and money, ten-year-old Mia Tang's parents take a job managing a rundown motel in Southern California, even though the owner, Mr. Yao is a nasty skinflint who exploits them; while her mother (who was an engineer in China) does the cleaning, Mia works the front desk and tries to cope with demanding customers and other recent immigrants--not to mention being only one of two Chinese in her fifth grade class, the other being Mr. Yao's son, Jason.
Indexed by:
School Library Journal starred, March 2018 Booklist starred, April 2018 Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books starre, May 2018 Kirkus Starred, March 2018 Horn Book, November 2018 Teacher Librarian, October 2018 Library Media Connection, August 2018 Publishers Weekly Annex, June 2018 School Library Journal starred Booklist starred Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books starre
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