(Grade 6 – 8) Classified as young adult, this series is definitely a cross-over, enjoyable and important for adults too. YA reads are especially good for light reading during the pandemic, but this series has substance too.
Based on the author’s real-life experiences, it is a heartfelt compelling story of Mia Tang who lives in a motel. Her immigrant parents clean the rooms while ten-year old Mia manages the front desk. Her parents are hiding immigrants and if the mean motel owner finds out they’ve been letting them stay in the empty rooms for free, the Tangs may lose everything. Like the pandemic, the novel exposes systemic racism and social injustice.
Mia wants to be a writer but how can she be when English is not her first language and her mother thinks she should stick to Math. Mia is a character I won’t soon forget. She is courageous, kind, smart, and hard working. And yet the reader is aware that she is a child who has been given way too much responsibility for her age, because her family has no choice. She doggedly pursues her dream of writing and actually ends up saving the day a few times because of it. Will she be able to hold on to her job, help the immigrants and guests, escape Mr. Yao, and go for her dreams?
Three Keys, second in the series, continues the story of Mia, her family, the motel, and her friends Lupe and Jason. Much of this instalment is focused on the plight of undocumented immigrants. Mia bravely faces real challenges but she is not alone. The strength and support that can come from community is very strong in these books as well.
Room to Dream is third in the series and is scheduled to be published in 2021.
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