Tag Archives: California

Review: Room to Dream by Kelly Yang

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Room to Dream by Kelly Yang

Room to Dream (Front Desk #3)
Kelly Yang
Publisher
Published September 21, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Room to Dream

New York Times bestselling author Kelly Yang is back with another heartwarming and inspiring story of Mia and friends!

Mia Tang is going for her dreams!

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!

My Review

Mia’s journey continues in the third installment of this smart, engaging series. Inspired by some events from her own childhood, Yang writes about running a family motel, pursuing a dream as a young writer, and learning to navigate challenges in friendships and family relationships.

This book invites young readers to consider how a changing political landscape impacts their families and communities. Sometimes we act like we can shelter kids from the news and political changes. And, while we can shelter them from some things, they often see and hear more than we realize. They also feel the impact of some things in the community around them.

I like that Kelly Yang introduces readers to these ideas in an age-appropriate way. Some readers will identify with Mia, a young girl from an immigrant family, watching her teacher and classmates’ attitudes change as they embrace political ideas that malign people like her. Mia shows courage by figuring out how to speak up for herself and help friends in need. She learns some lessons about being a true friend and about navigating changing feelings in a relationship.

I love this series so far, and I highly recommend it.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 9 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
A boy kisses a girl without her consent. A couple of characters discuss an unrequited crush.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Someone throws a bowl of punch on the floor at a school dance in a moment of anger.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I borrowed a copy of this book from the public library. All opinions are my own.

Review: Three Keys by Kelly Yang

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , , ,

Three Keys (Front Desk #2)
Kelly Yang
Scholastic Press
Published September 15, 2020

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Three Keys

The story of Mia and her family and friends at the Calivista Motel continues in this powerful, hilarious, and resonant sequel to the award-winning novel Front Desk.Mia Tang thinks she’s going to have the best year ever.She and her parents are the proud owners of the Calivista Motel, Mia gets to run the front desk with her best friend, Lupe, and she’s finally getting somewhere with her writing!

But as it turns out, sixth grade is no picnic…1. Mia’s new teacher doesn’t think her writing is all that great. And her entire class finds out she lives and works in a motel! 2. The motel is struggling, and Mia has to answer to the Calivista’s many, many worried investors. 3. A new immigration law is looming and if it passes, it will threaten everything — and everyone — in Mia’s life.

It’s a roller coaster of challenges, and Mia needs all of her determination to hang on tight. But if anyone can find the key to getting through turbulent times, it’s Mia Tang!

My Review

Authors like Kelly Yang, who write about real situations from recent history that some young readers face, deserve much appreciation. In her author’s note, Yang recalls her own childhood, during which many of the events mentioned in Three Keys take place. She reflects on the parallels between that time period back in the 1990s and the rise of xenophobia and hate in the United States in more recent days.

Through the pages of the novel, though, she carefully deconstructs these challenging ideas so that young readers can see, think about, and explore them in an age-appropriate way. Like Mia herself, many readers will find themselves in school classrooms with children whose families face increased discrimination and fear.

The story makes space for readers to think about what those experiences would feel like and how political ideas, and even recent political history, impact the people around them.

I’ve loved this series so far, and I’m so impressed with the author’s wisdom and careful handling of these sensitive topics. I’m excited to read more of the series.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 9 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Brief racist comments. References to an adult being arrested and detained.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I borrowed a copy of this book from the library. All opinions are my own.

MMGM Review: Eureka by Victoria Chang

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Eureka
Victoria Chang
Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
Published January 27, 2026

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Eureka

A novel-in-verse by poet Victoria Chang that relates the tragic events surrounding the 1885 expulsion of Chinese Americans from Eureka, California.

Love illuminates the dark.

The year is 1885. San Francisco is dangerous for Chinese immigrants like twelve-year-old Mei Mei. She must venture on her own, without her family or friends, to Eureka, California, where it is supposedly safe.

But 300 miles from home, Mei Mei misses her Ma Ma’s kindness, helping out in her Ba Ba’s store, and playing hide-and-seek with her best friend, Hua Hua. Despite her fear and the increasing violence against her community, she finds hope in an unexpected friend, the giant Redwood trees, and a new learning how to read in English. As the world around her grows more scary, Mei Mei discovers her own power, as well the joy of found family, the importance of courage, and the nature of freedom.

My Review

This is the second historical novel-in-verse that I’ve read this month, and the second about a moment in history that I’m not as familiar with as I’d like to be. I love that authors are bringing these stories to the page.

Mei Mei faces some intense circumstances, but the descriptions and her understanding of what’s happening stays appropriate for a middle grade audience. She finds friends and builds community even when she moves far from her family. It’s easy to root for her and cheer her on as she faces difficulties.

While the story identifies some of the cruel and racist things that happened to Chinese immigrants in 1885, the novel also highlights the power of hope and the importance of taking care of one another. Mei Mei helps others when she can, and others look out for her at different points in the story, too.

If you enjoyed Lion of the Sky by Ritu Hemnani, a novel in verse set in the 1940s during the British Partition of India, add this book to your reading list.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 9 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
A thief steals items from Mei Mei’s parents’ store. Dangerous people come to the shop looking for Mei Mei, planning to kidnap her in exchange for her parents’ debts. Mei Mei witnesses someone mistreating household staff. Someone locks her in a closet to punish her. Mei Mei worries about anti-Chinese sentiment that could lead to violence against her or others.

Mei Mei’s mother’s feet have been badly damaged due to the practice of foot binding that was common in her generation in China. Walking is painful for her, which limits what she’s able to do.

Drug Content
Mei Mei witnesses an adult who’s been drinking alcohol.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday

I’m sharing this post as a part of a weekly round-up of middle-grade posts called Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday. Check out other blogs with posts about middle-grade books today on Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays at Always in the Middle.

Review: Spark by Chris Baron

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Spark
Chris Baron
Feiwel & Friends
Published July 15, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Spark

As a community recovers from a devastating wildfire, two friends find their way back to each other and their homes, by award-winning author Chris Baron.

Perfect for fans of Alan Gratz and Lauren Tarshis.

Finn and his friend, nicknamed Rabbit, live in a rural area that’s been hit hard by wildfires. Families were displaced and school was interrupted. Moreover, their beloved forest is suffering — animals and plants haven’t been able to come back, and the two friends wonder if there’s anything they can do to help. Rabbit’s uncle, a science teacher, is part of a study that may help bring the forest back to life, but Finn and Rabbit wonder if the forest can wait. And what if another fire comes in the meantime? They believe a small part of the forest — the forest heart — that survived the wildfire may hold the key to regrowth, but first, they have to find it and then convince the adults around them to listen.

For any young person who’s ever felt powerless against the world, here is a story about two kids doing all they can to understand their natural world and preserve it.

My Review

This is the second novel by Chris Baron that I’ve read, but the first in verse, and what a treat! Like, it’s largely a serious story that bravely excavates some big feelings and mental health issues. I found it incredibly easy to get lost in this story, though. A couple times, I had to pause and just breathe.

In the story, Finn faces some scary situations. Afterward, he experiences some symptoms of PTSD. I remember experiencing some of the symptoms he described. Those lines took me back to those moments– it felt like the kind of observations that had to come from someone who’d been through what Finn felt.

It’s also such a hopeful story, and that’s so important. Wildfires and the threat of them is terrifying. What can one person do in the face of such a huge fire or a serious threat? Baron’s characters explore these questions themselves and look for ways they can help their families and community. They celebrate a connection with nature that others don’t always understand. As they continue sharing their hope and passion, others begin to listen and forge their own connections with the natural world.

I loved that the story faces hardship head-on but remains so focused on hope. I can’t think of anything we need more than stories that take our kids fears and experiences seriously and make space for those things but also remind us to be hopeful and remind us how powerful a little hope can be.

Expect to see Spark on end of the year favorites lists. It’s so worth reading.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Finn and his family celebrate the sabbath and attend services at a synogogue.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Finn’s family must evacuate when a fire gets too close to their home. Their escape is a bit harrowing, though the descriptions of the danger are brief. Finn learns about others who also had to hunker down (safely/with gear) and let the fire pass by. Some people lose homes. A girl searches for a missing dog. A man slides off the roof of his house (because he’s in a hurry to get his family to safety) and injures his leg.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Salvación by Sandra Proudman

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

Salvación
Sandra Proudman
Wednesday Books
Published May 20, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Salvación

In this Latinx YA fantasy inspired by El Zorro, Lola de La Peña becomes the masked heroine Salvación in order to save her family and town from a man who would destroy it for the magic it contains…if she doesn’t fall in love with one of his men first.

Lola de La Peña yearns to be free from the societal expectations of a young Mexican lady of her station. She spends her days pretending to be delicate and proper while watching her mamá cure the sick and injured with sal negra (black salt), a recently discovered magic that heals even the most mortal of sicknesses and wounds. But by night, she is Salvación, the free-spirit lady vigilante protecting the town of Coloma from those who threaten its peace and safety among the rising tension in Alta California after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

But one night, a woman races into Coloma, barely alive, to tell the horrifying tale of how her town was obliterated by sal roja, a potent, deadly magic capable of obliterating anything it comes into contact with and the man who wields it: Damien Hernández. And when Hernández arrives the next day with a party of fifty strong and promises of returning Alta California to México, Lola knows it’s only a matter of time before he brings the region under his rule—all Hernández needs is the next full moon and the stolen, ancient amulet he carries to mine enough sal roja to conquer the land. Determined to protect everything she loves, Lola races against time as Salvación to stop his plans. What she didn’t count on was the distracting and infuriating Alejandro, who travels with Hernández but doesn’t seem to share his ambitions. With the stakes higher than ever and Hernández getting closer to his goals, Lola will do anything to foil his plans, even teaming up with Alejandro—who she doesn’t fully trust, but can’t help but fall in love with.

My Review

The setting of this book took me back to my childhood memories of watching Zorro episodes on TV. It’s set in California in a town built up around a mine where someone has discovered a salt with healing power. Lola lives a privileged life in her town, but she wants nothing to do with the fancy dresses and future romance that her family might want for her. Instead, she wants to help others. Particularly, she wants to protect the people in her town from those who would harm them.

The story doesn’t follow a stereotypical superhero path. For one thing, though Lola has a secret identity as Salvación, she shares the identity with her brother. The two of them work as a team, but he stays in the shadows. As Salvación, she’s the face of their team.

I liked exploring the teamwork and their relationship as brother and sister within the story. Lola also isn’t the kind of hero who charges into danger with a sword every time there’s trouble. She does background investigating. She forms relationships. The girl has layers! I love that.

On the whole, I enjoyed the book. It really delivered the vibe of the Zorro TV episodes I watched as a little kid while telling a Latinx-centered story. If you like historical fantasy, you’ll want this one on your reading list.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A few instances of profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
Salt with magical properties can either help or harm someone.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Battle violence. A couple scenes include someone killing a captive or enemy.

Drug Content
Salt with healing properties cures disease and injury. Salt with destructive properties destroys any living thing it touches.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Gita Desai is Not Here to Shut Up by Sonia Patel

Book Review and Content, Historical, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , ,

Gita Desai is Not Here to Shut Up
Sonia Patel
Nancy Paulsen Books
Published September 10, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Gita Desai is Not Here to Shut Up

It’s eighteen-year-old Gita Desai’s first year at Stanford University, and it’s a miracle she’s here and not already married off by her traditional Gujarati parents. She’s determined to death-grip her good-girl, model-student rep all the way to medical school, which means no social life or standing out in any way. Should be easy: If there’s one thing she’s learned from her family it’s how to chup-re—to “shut up,” fade into the background.

But when childhood memories of her aunt’s desertion and her then-uncle’s best friend resurface, Gita ditches the books night after night in favor of partying and hooking up with strangers. Still, nothing can stop the nagging voice in her head that’s growing louder and louder, insisting something’s wrong… and the only way she can burst forward is to stop shutting-up about the past.

My Review

I feel like I should have realized from the back cover copy that this book explores trauma and its effect on a young college student. Though I’m not always a fan of young adult literature featuring protagonists in college, I do think this– trauma emerging and demanding to be dealt with in the first semester of college– is something we don’t talk about enough. It seems like something that a lot of people experience as they leave home for the first time and enter a busy, stressful time of life with a lot of academic and social demands.

Anyway, regardless, I kind of went into this book unprepared for its themes, which made it hit really hard. Some of the scenes are hard to read, not because there’s anything wrong with them, but because they explicitly state things that we often shut people up for talking about. We sometimes treat these things like they’re too shameful or complicated to talk about.

Gita is incredibly smart academically. She finds two really great girl friends, both white girls, and feels sidelined by the guys at the events the three of them attend. At one point, a guy Gita sleeps with asks for her friend’s phone number immediately after they’ve had sex. Ugh. Awful.

As the story unfolds, there are more and more hints at past trauma in Gita’s life. The slow reveal of those things was agonizing for me. I suspected where things were headed, and I could feel Gita’s resistance to remembering what happened. The writing is so on point. It was hard to stay on that knife’s edge for as long as the story keeps its readers there, though.

Because the story takes place in the 1990s, there are so many music references that 90s music lovers will enjoy. Gita listens to a broad range of music, and some of the songs were really well-placed in terms of what was happening in the scene as the song played.

Conclusion

Ultimately, I love that Gita’s relationships with Marisol and Jane anchor her and help give her the courage to speak up for herself. I love the arc of her relationships with her family members, too.

Overall, this is a heavy book that won’t be for everyone. It does a good job exploring the transition from home to college life and the role of trauma and shame in choices someone might make during that time.

Content Notes

Content warning for sexual abuse and assault.

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
Gita is Indian American.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Some F-bombs and infrequent use of other profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Gita observes a couple having sex. One partner notices her, but the other does not know she’s there. Kissing between boy and girl. Some scenes show sexual assault from the point of view of a girl who’s very drunk and not really processing what’s happening. Details are sparse but graphic.

Spiritual Content
References to Hindu faith practices.

Violent Content
Some scenes show sexual assault from the point of view of a girl who’s very drunk and not really processing what’s happening. Scenes also briefly show or reference child abuse. A girl hits a boy who kisses her against her will.

Drug Content
Gita and her friends (freshman in college) drink alcohol at parties and the home of some men they barely know.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.