Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"After years of hard work, Mia Tang finally gets to go on vacation with her family - to China! A total dream come true! Mia can't wait to see all her cousins and grandparents again, especially her cousin Shen. As she roams around Beijing, witnessing some of the big changes China's going through, Mia thinks about the changes in her own life, like...1. Lupe's taking classes at the high school! And Mia's own plans to be a big writer are...stuck.2. Something happened with Jason and Mia has no idea what to do about it.3. New buildings are popping up all around the motel, and small businesses are disappearing.Can the Calivista survive? Buckle up! Mia is more determined than ever to get through the turbulence, now that she finally has...room to dream!"
Book three in the Front Desk series! Front Desk and Three Keys both got rave reviews from me, and Room to Dream will be no different. In previous books, we've seen Mia take on a racist boss exploiting his workers, fight against racist policies being enacted by the government, and take on big businesses threatening her family's motel. Her ingenuity and determination hasn't dimmed in this book, and I love getting to watch her evolve and change as she gets older, seeing the ways she continues to think creatively and problem solve when things get challenging instead of throwing up her hands and giving up.
Another thing I love about Mia is her commitment to being true to herself and her integrity. She goes through some rough patches with her friends in this book, and although she struggles to know what to do at first (of course, because she's a preteen and is still learning and growing), but when she realizes what she has done wrong, she actively apologizes and looks for ways to repair those relationships. Saying sorry and making amends is something many adults struggle with, so seeing it modeled in a middle grade book is a beautiful thing. Let's all commit to be like Mia and refuse to put our own comfort over acknowledging when we're in the wrong!
I know this is a lot of Mia adoration, but I can't help it. Kelly Yang creates such beautiful characters, even though I wanted to talk more about the plot and my appreciation for a storyline about someone figuring out where and how they fit into both their cultures, sometimes I just can't help but rave about a main character instead. I love everything about Kelly Yang's writing, and I think this series is great and full of important life lessons. Three down, one book to go! I can't wait.
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