Happy World Book Day: Front Desk by Kelly Yang

^{Photo credits: Scholastic Canada, Kelly Yang's Twitter (@kellyyanghk)}

So apparently, today is WORLD BOOK DAY! But, legit *every day* is World Book Day for us over here at Little Kozzi, soo... 🤪

Rather than the usual books you see here, I thought I'd do something a little different and talk about an English book I read two days ago that I really loved, and would HIGHLY recommend 👇👇👇

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🛎 Front Desk 🛎 by Kelly Yang

Fortunately, this recommendation still feels very on brand since it’s a children’s book (albeit a middle-grader chapter book) and it’s written by a Chinese American author (yay representation 🙌)

Told from the perspective of a feisty and resourceful girl named Mia, the story revolves around an immigrant Chinese family who moved to the US in the 90s, in search for a freer life, with literally just 200 bucks in their pockets.

It’s juvenile fiction, so it’s a quick & easy read! I read it all in one sitting in ~4 hours after my son went to bed a few nights ago.

Given the audience it was written for, the plot moved fast. But I love how it managed to weave in so many interesting social issues such as racism, classism, and poverty... in a light-hearted and entertaining way.

There are so many quotable gems in this book!! And while it is NOT a sad book at all, I found myself tearing up several times from some really heartwarming scenes ♥️😭

If it matters to you, this is a ~Scholastic Gold~ book (which apparently means that it’s part of a line of award winning children's books).

I highly recommend this if you have children at chapter book reading level. It’s an awesome way to introduce how many people out there grapple with systemic racism, classism, and poverty every single day of their lives 😢

Even if you don’t have kids, it’s a good one to binge on in one (or two) sittings as an adult. I certainly did 🙂