Front Desk cover art

Front Desk

Preview

Try for $0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Front Desk

Written by: Kelly Yang
Narrated by: Sunny Lu
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $23.31

Buy Now for $23.31

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

Winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Children's Literature!

Mia Tang has a lot of secrets.

Number one: She lives in a motel, not a big house. Every day, while her immigrant parents clean the rooms, 10-year-old Mia manages the front desk of the Calivista Motel and tends to its guests.

Number two: 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 three: 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?

©2018 Kelly Yang (P)2018 Listening Library
Fiction Geography & Cultures Growing Up Growing Up & Facts of Life Literature & Fiction United States Young Adult Hotel
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What the critics say

"Many readers will recognize themselves or their neighbors in these pages." (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

What listeners say about Front Desk

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    45
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    34
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    38
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

How I listened to the book

I liked how the story goes the girl has some challenges which are developing her character in the story and help us understand what she went through.
Overall the story was great

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

played it for my class

This book is great! I played it for my grade 6 class. certainly some parts we had to talk about. some stronger racial language and one violent scene.
I would recommend an even older age group or make sure young readers are a little bit more mature for some of this content.
The book generated some great discussions and went well with our elections unit.
this is a really great book and worth a read!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

AMAZING

THE BEST BOOK EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Amazing AND CHEAP its sooooooo good 😊 I have the book and audio

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Everyone needs to read this

I’ll be coming back to this book often. It was an amazing listen, and as a second generation immigrant I could relate to many of the things that our wonderful protagonist had gone through (all the way down to the coin collection, funny enough). This book helps shine a light on the struggles immigrants face, from financial issues, discrimination, adapting to a new culture, learning a new language, etc. If every child - hell, every adult too - read this book, I feel like they’d walk away from it with more compassion and kindness towards all people. 10/10

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!